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Birthright upheld, new plan
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, rejecting the bid to end the 150-year-old policy in a 6-3 decision.
“to parents unlawfully or temporarily present" are "citizens at birth"”
Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that children born in the US “to parents unlawfully or temporarily present” are “citizens at birth” under the 14th amendment, and the BBC said the ruling was a blow to Trump’s immigration agenda.
In the immediate aftermath, Trump’s aides and MAGA allies pivoted to a new plan to block pregnant foreign women from entering the United States, with Axios saying the proposal would shift the fight from challenging the rights of children born in the U.S. to restricting who can enter the country.
Axios reported that White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump remains totally committed to protecting the value of natural-born American citizenship,” and that the Department of Justice would prioritize investigations of birth tourism schemes.
The BBC also reported that Trump vowed to continue fighting to end birthright citizenship through legislation, writing on Truth Social that “No long and unwieldy constitutional amendment is necessary.”
Prosecutors, pregnancy data
Axios said the Justice Department released a memo Tuesday urging prosecutors to investigate birth tourism, with Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald writing that “many such schemes start with a false visa application – with lies about the purpose or duration of one's travel.”
The Guardian reported that acting attorney general Todd Blanche said federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers will focus on combating “birth tourism,” telling reporters, “What we have to do as Department of Justice is make sure our agents, our [Homeland Security Investigations] agents that we work with, and the FBI are focused on stopping that.”
On the other side, Katie O'Connor, senior director of federal abortion policy at the National Women's Law Center, told Axios that “the idea that data about who's pregnant and how pregnant could get into the hands of the federal government, much less the state governments, that's a really dangerous proposition.”
The Guardian also quoted JD Vance saying he did not think it was what the framers had in mind, adding, “I don’t think that’s what the framers of the 14th amendment had in mind.”
Visa revocations and legislation
While the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, the State Department began revoking visas of tourists who came to have children, with Telemundo Houston reporting that the Department of State started an offensive against “turismo de parto” networks.
“más de 100 extranjeros”
Telemundo Houston said an embassy in Africa Occidental detected a network of “más de 100 extranjeros” using fraudulent documents and “gestores” of visas, and that another embassy in Europe identified “más de 400 casos sospechosos desde 2024.”
In parallel, Fox News reported that Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced the “Anchors Away Act,” saying he accused the Supreme Court of “betrayed America” and arguing that pregnant nonmarried visitors should be inadmissible.
The Guardian added that Trump is now pushing for lawmakers to create new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to parents who do not have permanent legal status in the US, while noting that “any legislation would need to overcome the 60-vote filibuster.”
