The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments next month on President Donald Trump‘s plan to end birthright citizenship for many.
The Court has scheduled arguments for May 15, but Trump’s executive order remains blocked by nationwide injunctions as the legal fight unfolds.
File Photo: President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025. File Photo: President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Trump’s Executive Order: What We Know
Trump issued the executive order on January 20, his first day back in the White House, reinstating and expanding his earlier attempts to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants or temporary foreign residents.
However, the order was paused by three district courts, citing constitutional concerns.
According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration filed emergency applications asking the Court to lift those nationwide injunctions. The justices declined, opting instead to review the policy’s legality through formal arguments.
What Is Birthright Citizenship?
Birthright citizenship refers to the legal principle that anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically a citizen of the United States, regardless of the immigration status of their parents. The principle is part of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
The doctrine was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed that a person born in the U.S., even if birthed by a foreign national, is still a U.S. citizens at birth.
What Has Donald Trump Said About Birthright Citizenship?
Trump made opposition to birthright citizenship part of his immigration platform during his 2024 campaign. But his stance has been solid since before then.
In an October 2018 interview for Axios, he stated his intention to sign an executive order that would end birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born in the U.S. “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States … with all of those benefits,” he falsely claimed. “It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.” In reality, several countries—especially in the Americas—grant unrestricted birthright citizenship (jus soli), including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. In contrast, many European and Asian countries require at least one parent to be a citizen or legal resident. The U.S. is one of many, not the only, country with such laws.
Back in 2020, the Trump administration implemented guidelines on “birth tourism,” or the approval that the U.S. can deny tourist visas to individuals if consular officers determine that the applicant is traveling to give birth in the U.S. to secure the child U.S. citizenship.
Trump returned to the issue prior to his second presidential run, framing birthright citizenship as a loophole that encourages illegal immigration.
“Going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship,” Trump said in a campaign video in May 2023. “It’s things like this that bring millions of people to our country, and they enter our country illegally.”
In December 2024, Trump told NBC‘s Kristen Welker that he intended to end birthright citizenship through executive action previously but was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic: “I was going to do it through executive action but then we had to fix Covid first, to be honest with you.”
On Inauguration Day 2025, the president signed an executive order that sought to limit birthright citizenship. Later that month, he said birthright citizenship was “meant for the children of slaves.”
“This was not meant for the whole world to come in and pile into the United States of America,” he said. “Everybody coming in, and totally unqualified people.”
What’s Next
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on May 15. Until then, the executive order remains blocked by lower court rulings.
