Immigration

Trump's New Birthright Citizenship Executive Orders Are Mostly Theater

The two measures combine unconstitutional provisions with performance art.

Billy Binion | 8.7.2026 5:15 PM

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(Photo: Denis Shevchuk/Elnur/Dreamstime; Illustration: Fatima Ruiz, Midjourney)

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday that attempt to restrict birthright citizenship narrowly. This comes a little over a month after the Supreme Court struck down his attempt to suppress birthright citizenship much more broadly. The first order specifies certain groups of people whose children the administration says are not eligible for citizenship at birth; the second addresses "birth tourism." The White House claims that the two measures will "protect the meaning and value of American citizenship."

In reality, the orders will not do much at all, because they combine unconstitutional provisions with performance art.

Let's begin with the first order. It says children will not receive birthright citizenship when either parent has been deemed an "alien........

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