Arabic version: ترامب يوقّع أوامر جديدة بشأن حق المواطنة بالولادة

According to The Guardian, Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday seeking to deny US citizenship to children born in the United States to people described as “birth tourists.” The actions came one month after the US supreme court struck down his earlier attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, a guarantee enshrined in the US constitution.

The orders, titled “Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” and “Ending Birth Tourism,” had not been made public. They apparently broaden the categories of children the White House considers ineligible for birthright citizenship and seek to prohibit “birth tourism.” Trump said the practice involved “hundreds of thousands” of people.

The Migration Policy Institute’s highest census-based estimate puts birth tourism at 22,000 to 26,000 babies born annually on US soil, while government data show 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024. During Oval Office remarks, Trump called the supreme court ruling “a very, very unfortunate decision” and said the 14th amendment was intended for “the babies of slaves.”

The Guardian reported that the amendment was passed by Congress on 13 June 1866 and ratified on 9 July 1868, more than a year after General Robert E Lee surrendered the largest Confederate force on 9 April 1865. In 1898, the supreme court ruled 6-2 that Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to Chinese-citizen parents, was a US citizen by birth.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s adviser, backed the president’s interpretation. Trump also said the US was nearly the only country to provide birthright citizenship. The Pew Research Center says 32 other countries, mostly in the Western Hemisphere, have laws similar to US law, and about 50 more have more limited versions.