Birthright Citizenship in the United States: What to Know

(Diana Roy – Council on Foreign Relations) The United States is one of a few dozen countries that guarantees citizenship to any individual born within its territory—a policy that has been in place since Congress ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. But efforts to end the practice have increased as critics say it encourages unauthorized migration. Hours after being sworn in for his second term in January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to reinterpret the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. If implemented, it would deny automatic birthright citizenship to children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of children born annually on U.S. soil. The order triggered multiple legal challenges and led several district courts to issue nationwide (“universal”) injunctions blocking its implementation anywhere in the country. After ruling in June 2025 that district courts generally lack the authority to issue universal injunctions, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in April 2026 in a separate case, Trump v. Barbara. The landmark case challenged the administration’s executive order, raising broader questions about the use of nationwide injunctions. In June, the court ruled 6–3 against Trump’s executive order, effectively upholding a more than century-old interpretation of birthright citizenship. – Birthright Citizenship in the United States: What to Know | Council on Foreign Relations