What Is Birthright Citizenship and Who Could Trump’s Executive Order Affect?

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This story is from January. Looking for the latest updates on the rules for U.S. birthright citizenship? Find them in our latest guide.

On Day One back in The White House, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that seeks to transform who gets to be a United States citizen at birth.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are undocumented.

But his Jan. 20 executive order, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” goes even further: It denies birthright citizenship to babies born on or after Feb. 19, 2025, who don’t have at least one parent who is a citizen or a lawful permanent resident.

Federal judges, however, have pushed back against Trump’s plans. On Feb. 6, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour of Washington State issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order, which means the order is frozen until the courts reach a final decision — which could take weeks or even months. Coughenour had previously blocked the order for a period of 14 days back in January, after declaring that the order is “blatantly unconstitutional.”

This is the second preliminary injunction a federal judge has issued against the executive order and the Trump administration could soon face more legal obstacles, as more than 22 states — including California — have filed different lawsuits against the order in order to overturn it completely.

Jump straight to:

• What is birthright citizenship?
• Who is affected by Trump’s executive order?
• Will this order strip anyone of their existing American citizenship?
• I’m having a baby soon. What do I need to know?

This executive order has created a great deal of confusion and even panic — especially among parents who worry if their kids and future children will lose their right to citizenship.

Keep reading for a breakdown of what birthright citizenship really means, who would actually be impacted by this executive order and the latest on the legal battle that could put a stop to Trump’s plans.

What is birthright citizenship?

If you’ve been hearing the term “birthright citizenship” repeated over and over on the news and you’re feeling a bit confused about what this actually means, here’s the breakdown: Under law and the U.S. Constitution, people born on American soil are automatically recognized as American citizens at the time of their birth.

The 14th Amendment in the Constitution — a document which is more powerful than any branch of government — established birthright citizenship in 1868. The amendment’s first clause states:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

When Congress first proposed adding the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, it was in response to laws passed by many Southern states after the Civil War that severely restricted the rights of formerly enslaved Black Americans and their children.

And while lawmakers who wrote the amendment were responding to the needs of Black Americans, the Supreme Court — which has the responsibility to interpret what the Constitution actually means — declared in 1898 that birthright citizenship also includes children born to immigrant parents who are not citizens of the United States.

The Supreme Court established this precedent in the landmark case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, named for a man born in San Francisco in the 1870s to Chinese immigrant parents. Wong was denied re-entry into the U.S. after travelling to China to visit his family. Officials insisted that he was not an American citizen but rather a Chinese national — a group essentially banned from coming into the country, due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

During the legal battle that followed, the government argued that Wong’s citizenship depended not on where he was born but rather on the nationality of his parents. But the Supreme Court didn’t buy that argument and ruled that Wong was a citizen due to the fact that he was born in San Francisco — and added that the 14th Amendment “in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born within the territory of the United States of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States.” Read more about this landmark birthright citizenship case.

Are there exceptions to birthright citizenship?

Yes, but they only apply in very specific circumstances.

Since the Wong Kim Ark case, the Supreme Court has provided three exceptions to the 14th Amendment:

• If, at the time of your birth, your parents are in the U.S. as high-ranking foreign diplomats who are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. This could include the ambassador of a foreign country who has diplomatic immunity and is exempt from following certain U.S. laws and taxes.
• If, at the time of your birth, your parents are in the U.S. as part of an invading army.
• Children born into Native American tribes with a specific autonomy from the federal government — but this exception was later eliminated when Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, granting citizenship to all Native people born in the U.S.

Throughout the 20th century, Congress passed a series of laws that also granted birthright citizenship to people born in certain U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and Guam.

Who does Trump’s birthright citizenship order affect?

The order declares that American citizenship “is a priceless and profound gift” and then goes on to argue that the 14th Amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”

If the courts were to decide in favor of the Trump administration in the ongoing legal battles and allow the executive order to move forward, the federal government will no longer grant documents that confirm citizenship, like a Social Security Number or passport, to children born on or after Feb. 19, who are in the following situations:

• At the time of birth, the baby’s biological mother is “unlawfully present” (with no legal status) in the U.S. and the biological father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
• At the time of birth, the baby’s biological mother was in the U.S. with a temporary visa or permit, and the biological father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

If an individual state or local government provides documents that state a child in this situation is an American citizen, the federal government will not recognize that documentation.

The text of the executive order can be confusing for many to read, as it’s meant to be read primarily by lawmakers and attorneys. But based on the circumstances the order describes, these are families that could be affected by Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order:

• Families where both parents have no legal immigration documents at the time of their baby’s birth.
• Families where both parents only have a temporary legal status, which could include: Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), H1-B holders, a student J-1 visa or an H-2A visa for agricultural workers, another temporary visa or humanitarian parole. Their baby would not have birthright citizenship.
• If one parent has no legal status and the other only has a temporary legal status, which could include: Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), H1-B holders, a student J-1 visa or an H-2A visa for agricultural workers, another temporary visa or humanitarian parole. Their baby would not have birthright citizenship.

But it’s very important to remember that on Feb. 6,  a federal judge froze this executive order and the federal government cannot enforce it until the courts have reached a final decision — which could happen at the Supreme Court or at a federal court of appeals.

I’m worried: Is my baby still a US citizen?

As the executive order was written, only babies born “within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order” will be affected — which would make Feb. 19, 2025, the official start date of this policy.

If your baby is born any time before that date, the federal government will still recognize them as a U.S. citizen, regardless of your immigration status.

I’m seeing that Trump’s executive order ‘repealed the 14th Amendment.’ Is that true?

No, Trump’s executive order did not repeal the 14th Amendment — as doing so would require a complicated process in Congress, and at least 37 out of the 50 states would need to vote in favor of the change.

Would anyone be stripped of their existing American citizenship with this order?

Trump’s executive order will only move forward if the courts end up ruling in his favor.  If that were to happen, and the order is enforced on Feb. 19, no one born before that date will lose their U.S. citizenship.

The executive order says nothing about taking away the citizenship of people already born in the U.S. before Feb. 19, regardless of the immigration status of their parents.

I’m expecting a baby that could be born after Feb. 19. Will they still become a US citizen automatically?

This one’s complicated, as this depends entirely on what the courts decide.

Two federal judges — Coughenour in Washington state and Deborah Boardman in Maryland — have already issued preliminary injunctions against Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. These injunctions come from separate lawsuits against the federal government and they prevent the administration from enforcing the order until the courts reach a decision in the respective cases.

As long as these preliminary injunctions stays in place, the Trump administration cannot enforce the executive order and deny birthright citizenship to children born after Feb. 19 who don’t have at least one parent who is a citizen or a lawful permanent resident. And more preliminary injunctions could be announced in the coming weeks as there’s dozens of other lawsuits from states and civil rights groups seeking to overturn the order.

The Department of Justice, which is representing the federal government has repeatedly stated that it will “vigorously defend” Trump’s order, and is expected to appeal any decision that tries to stop the order. A case would have to make it up the different levels in the judicial system before reaching the Supreme Court, which would then make a binding, permanent decision.

We will be updating this section to include the latest information from the courts.