Breaking: Trump moves to ban 'birth tourism', restrict birthright citizenship

Donald Trump signs executive orders targeting birthright citizenship, banning 'birth tourism' Fri 7 Aug 2026 at 7:37am US President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders the White House says will increase the number of people born in the United States who are ineligible for birthright citizenship and ban "birth tourism". Limiting birthright citizenship — a constitutional provision granting US citizenship to anybody born on US territory while under its jurisdiction, or with at least one American parent — has been one of the top priorities in the Republican president's crackdown on immigration. An earlier effort by Mr Trump to roll back birthright citizenship was rejected by the US Supreme Court in June, prompting him to call upon Congress to act. No US law outright bars "birth tourism", a term used mostly by Republicans to describe people visiting the US towards the end of a pregnancy to ensure their child is born a US citizen. However, a federal regulation implemented in 2020 during Mr Trump's first term prohibits the use of temporary tourist and business visas for the primary purpose of obtaining US citizenship for a newborn. People who engage in birth tourism schemes could also be prosecuted for fraud or other related crimes. There are no official figures tallying the number of foreigners who come to the US for the explicit purpose of giving birth and obtaining citizenship for their children, or the cost to taxpayers. The Center for Immigration Studies, which supports lower levels of immigration, estimated in an analysis in 2020 that between 20,000 and 25,000 mothers came to the US for birth tourism in a year-long period between 2016 and 2017. Reuters Loading [Image text:] ** 8.. :0 RI