Migration Policy Institute estimates 22,000 to 26,000 birth-tourism births annually
Donald Trump signed the orders Thursday as he continued an effort to change how birthright citizenship applies to children born in the United States. The White House said the measures restrict the eligibility of some children for citizenship and seek to ban “birth tourism.”
The orders came just over a month after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s first attempt to restrict the guarantee of birthright citizenship enshrined in the Constitution.
The new orders expand the definitions of children the White House deems ineligible for birthright citizenship. They also target what the White House describes as birth tourism.
Trump told reporters Thursday that birth tourism is practiced by hundreds of thousands of people. The Migration Policy Institute’s highest census-based estimate, however, puts the number of babies born annually on U.S. soil through birth tourism at 22,000 to 26,000, according to the institute. Government data show 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024.
The orders follow Trump’s longstanding effort to dismantle birthright citizenship, according to The Guardian. The principle has been a top priority of his second-term immigration policy.
The citizenship question also has a personal connection to the Trump family. Fred Trump, the president’s father, was born a U.S. citizen to a non-citizen mother who arrived in New York five months pregnant.
The Guardian reported that the White House had not provided further details on the orders beyond the changes described.