WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed another executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, this time targeting people who enter the country as tourists with the intention of giving birth in the United States.
Trump said the move addresses what he called an abuse of birthright citizenship, after the US Supreme Court rejected his earlier attempt to limit the constitutional right.
“They’ve taken birthright citizenship, and they’ve made a joke out of it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump said his administration was making changes after the Supreme Court’s late-June ruling against his previous effort.
White House adviser Stephen Miller said the new order would also seek to deny birthright citizenship to children of members of “foreign terrorist organizations” and people whose parents belong to certain groups that lobby or act on behalf of foreign governments.
The administration has not yet detailed how the new order would operate within existing constitutional protections.
Trump signed a broader executive order last year seeking to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or hold temporary visas.
Lower courts blocked that order, citing the 14th Amendment, which states that people born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens.
The Supreme Court later ruled against the administration’s earlier effort in a majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The 14th Amendment contains exceptions, including children of foreign diplomats. US immigration law also allows consular officers to deny visas when they determine that an applicant primarily intends to travel to the United States to give birth.
The Trump administration has argued that the amendment does not automatically cover children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors because they are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.
The administration’s latest move forms part of Trump’s broader immigration agenda, which includes deporting undocumented immigrants and restricting entry and immigration protections for nationals of several countries.
