Overview
- President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Aug. 6 that seek to narrow who qualifies for automatic U.S. citizenship at birth and to curb so-called birth tourism.
- One order expands categories the administration says are excluded from birthright citizenship while the other directs the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to deny or revoke visas and bar entry for people the government alleges are coming to the U.S. to give birth.
- The American Civil Liberties Union and the plaintiffs who won at the Supreme Court filed motions in federal court on Aug. 11 asking the judge to block enforcement or to clarify that the orders cannot strip citizenship from the class protected by the earlier litigation.
- The White House also renewed its effort to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook with a new Aug. 5 removal letter, a step that critics say fits a pattern of clashes between the administration and independent institutions.
- Legal experts and civil-rights lawyers say the orders directly conflict with the Court’s June decision and predict more litigation while noting practical limits on enforcement such as state control of birth records and unresolved questions about who can sue and what broad remedies courts will grant.