US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday seeking to narrow birthright citizenship and intensify a crackdown on “birth tourism”, making a new attempt to restrict automatic citizenship after his original policy was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Trump announced the measures unexpectedly during a White House event, describing the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling as “very unfortunate” and arguing that wealthy foreigners had built businesses around securing US citizenship for their children.
“They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen,” Trump said.
The measures are likely to renew a politically and legally contentious debate that has increasingly focused on China, with Trump and Republican lawmakers repeatedly alleging that wealthy Chinese nationals and commercial operators have exploited US citizenship laws.
The first order directs federal agencies not to recognise the US citizenship of certain US-born children when neither parent is an American citizen.
It applies when either parent is classified as an “alien enemy”, a category the order defines to include members of designated foreign terrorist organisations and individuals designated as global terrorists.