Trump Signs Executive Order Limiting Birthright Citizenship for Two Categories of Children Born in the United States
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14160, Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, at the White House in Washington, directing federal agencies to stop automatically issuing or recognizing citizenship documents for two categories of people born in the United States. It was among the series of executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office, and it went to the heart of the American system of birthright citizenship.
The order quotes the Fourteenth Amendment — all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens — and argues that the amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States, and has always excluded persons born in the United States but not subject to its jurisdiction; it notes that Congress made the same formulation in 8 U.S.C. 1401. On that basis, the order lists two categories of U.S.-born persons to whom citizenship does not automatically extend: first, those whose mother was unlawfully present in the United States and whose father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of birth; and second, those whose mother's presence was lawful but temporary — such as visiting under the Visa Waiver Program or on a student, work or tourist visa — and whose father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of birth.
Section 2 sets the policy: no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship to such persons, or accept documents issued by state, local or other authorities purporting to recognize it; the provision applies only to persons born within the United States more than 30 days after the date of the order. The order also states that nothing in it affects the entitlement of other individuals, including children of lawful permanent residents, to obtain documentation of their citizenship.
On enforcement, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Commissioner of Social Security are to ensure their regulations and policies conform to the order, and agency heads are to issue public guidance on implementation within 30 days. The order defines mother as the immediate female biological progenitor and father as the immediate male biological progenitor.
The order's purpose section also recalls that the Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship clause repudiated the Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which had excluded people of African descent from citizenship on the basis of race. Birthright citizenship has been a feature of American law for more than a century and a half; this attempt to reinterpret its reach by executive order drew nationwide attention on the day it was signed, and its ultimate effect will depend on review by the federal courts.
(Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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