Arabic version: ترامب يوقّع أوامر جديدة بشأن الجنسية بالولادة

According to ABC News, US President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders aimed at restricting birthright citizenship, weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his previous attempt. Birthright citizenship, protected by the 14th Amendment, grants automatic citizenship to nearly everyone born on US soil. Trump has argued the practice is “expensive and unfair” and should end.

One order targets what Trump calls “birth tourism”, seeking to stop pregnant foreigners travelling to the United States to give birth so their children become citizens. The second seeks to restrict automatic citizenship for children born to foreign government employees, parents who allegedly used fraud to obtain citizenship, and people classified as “alien enemies”. The administration argues the revised orders reinterpret historical exceptions and differ from the measure rejected in June.

Legal challenges are expected. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said Trump has authority to bar birth tourism under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the president to limit entry. But the Migration Policy Institute says misrepresenting travel plans to give birth in the US is already considered fraud, and visas can be restricted where entry is sought to obtain citizenship for an unborn child.

There is no official estimate of births linked to birth tourism or its cost to taxpayers. The Migration Policy Institute estimated earlier this year that about 26,000 cases could fall into that category out of roughly 3.5 million US births annually. The American Civil Liberties Union said birthright citizenship is constitutionally guaranteed, while Women’s Refugee Commission director Zain Lakhani warned the orders could affect pregnant women seeking lawful entry.