The United States is taking steps to change who qualifies for birthright citizenship. A new executive order, signed under President Donald Trump, aims to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their parents aren’t permanent residents or U.S. citizens. This would mark a major shift from long-standing interpretations of the 14th Amendment.
Even though the courts have hit pause on the order for now, immigration authorities aren’t standing still. Behind the scenes, they’re actively preparing to roll it out in case it eventually gets the green light. As a preliminary injunction has already been issued in the case Barbara v. Trump, No. 2025 DNH 079P. But the court made it clear that while enforcement is on hold, federal agencies are still allowed to prepare internal plans and offer public guidance on how they would carry it out.
READ: ‘Giant win’: US Supreme Court backs Trump on birthright citizenship (June 27, 2025)
Signed by President Donald Trump on January 20, the order titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” aims to tighten the rules around who qualifies for birthright citizenship, making the path to automatic citizenship much more limited than it has been in the past.
The order is aimed at families where the child’s mother is in the U.S. without legal status at the time of birth, and the father isn’t a U.S. citizen or green card holder. It also applies to cases where the mother is in the country legally but only on a temporary visa like for work, study, or tourism while the father lacks permanent residency or citizenship.
According to the order, children born in the U.S. to mothers on temporary visas and fathers without permanent legal status wouldn’t be granted citizenship at birth. Instead, USCIS proposes that these children could apply to receive the same legal status as one of their parents, a process similar to what’s currently done for children of foreign diplomats. The agency also said it would advise holding off on any immigration enforcement for this group until official rules are finalized.
READ: US Federal Court blocks Trump’s executive order against birthright citizenship (July 24, 2025)
This executive order taps into an ongoing debate around how the 14th Amendment is interpreted, specifically the part that grants citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” During his earlier term, Trump had tried to push similar changes through executive actions, but those efforts were struck down by the courts for going against constitutional protections. Now, the latest version of that battle is once again playing out in federal courtrooms.
As this legal battle continues to unfold, the future of birthright citizenship in the U.S. remains uncertain. The executive order has reignited a deep-rooted constitutional debate, one that touches not just on immigration policy but also on how the country defines citizenship itself.