Trump signs executive orders in attempt to limit birthright citizenship
President Donald Trump took another stab at restricting automatic citizenship for people born in the United States after the Supreme Court rejected his earlier attempt.
In two executive orders signed August 7, Trump reached for different legal maneuvers to test the limits of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
The first order said children would be ineligible if born to “alien enemies,” members of foreign terrorist organizations, or foreign lobbyists. The second order said children of people who fraudulently request tourist visas for the purpose of giving birth in the U.S. would not become citizens.
The new orders are certain to face legal challenges, and if they survive, would affect far fewer people than the original. An estimated 15 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S., while only a few thousand people are foreign lobbyists registered with the Justice Department.
No significant populations of U.S. residents are designated as alien enemies or foreign terrorists, making that provision largely symbolic.
