Trump Signs Executive Orders Targeting Birthright Citizenship

President Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday aimed at limiting the number of people who are eligible for birthright citizenship and cracking down on “birth tourism,” in which women give birth in the United States to get automatic citizenship for their newborns.

The new orders came weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, rejected the president’s previous efforts to end birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants through executive orders.

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It was not immediately clear how the twin orders could realistically be enforced. They would restrict those who could qualify for birthright citizenship, to exclude children of staff working for foreign governments but serving in the United States, and the babies of mothers who lie about their intentions for visiting the country while pregnant. There is a third category, for babies born in U.S. territories, but that would first require congressional action.

And then there are children whose parents are tagged by the government as being part of known terrorist groups or who are “alien enemies.”

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Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s top domestic policy adviser and the architect of much of his immigration platform, and Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, described the orders as important correctives to the current system.

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Mr. Scharf said among the actions being considered would be denying visas to visitors they suspect are coming to the country solely for delivering a child in the United States.

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A Department of Homeland Security official, who was granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak about the executive orders, threw cold water on the birth tourism order. There is nothing new in it from an enforcement perspective, the official said, because it simply restates existing law.

Mr. Miller said that Section 215A of the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the president the authority to engage in these new restrictions, when asked how the administration will determine the difference between “tourism” and “birth tourism.”

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Federal immigration law gives the government broad power over entry into the United States, but the law also forbids discrimination in the issuing of immigrant visas. Limits on the entry of certain pregnant women from other countries, as the president’s order envisions, could also give rise to claims of discrimination.

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