President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Thursday aimed at stopping birth tourism and restricting birthright citizenship for certain categories of people.
The actions follow a June 30 Supreme Court ruling that rejected Trump’s earlier attempt to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or are temporarily present.
One of the new orders directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take action against birth tourism.
The White House describes the practice as entering the United States on temporary admission with the intention of giving birth and obtaining U.S. citizenship for the child.
The second order identifies categories of children of foreign nationals whom the administration says are not entitled to birthright citizenship under historically recognized exceptions.
“They’ve taken birthright citizenship and they’ve made a joke out of it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“We’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair,” he added.
White House adviser Stephen Miller said the order would apply to additional groups. He cited children of members of “foreign terrorist organizations” and certain people who lobby or act on behalf of foreign governments.
The move “ensures that large numbers of people who wrongly [would] be getting birthright citizenship will no longer be eligible for those benefits,” Miller said.
The White House said the birth tourism order is intended to prevent foreign nationals from using temporary admission to obtain citizenship for children born in the United States.
The administration also said birth tourists can work with what it described as malign syndicates to evade immigration laws.
Under existing U.S. law, visas can already be denied when a consular officer believes an applicant is traveling to the United States primarily to give birth.
Trump’s latest actions come after the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Barbara.
Trump previously signed an executive order declaring that children born to parents who were in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become U.S. citizens.
Lower courts blocked that order.
The Supreme Court ultimately held that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are subject to U.S. jurisdiction and are citizens at birth under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Trump described the ruling as “very unfortunate.”
The 14th Amendment states that all people born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States.
The Trump administration had argued that people in the country illegally or on temporary visas were not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States for purposes of automatic citizenship.
It also argued that the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, was intended to address the citizenship rights of former slaves rather than children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors.
The Supreme Court rejected the administration’s effort to create those broader exceptions.
However, birthright citizenship has historically included some exceptions. Children of foreign diplomats, for example, are generally not covered because their parents are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
The administration said the two orders are part of Trump’s broader effort to tighten immigration enforcement and protect the meaning and value of U.S. citizenship.