ACLU seeks court block on Trump's new birthright citizenship orders
ACLU asks federal court to block Trump's new executive orders limiting birthright citizenship, citing Supreme Court's June ruling.
Civil rights groups, led by the ACLU, have petitioned a federal judge in New Hampshire to prevent the enforcement of President Donald Trump's latest executive orders restricting birthright citizenship. The filing, submitted on Tuesday, argues that the new orders are an attempt to bypass the Supreme Court's June 30 decision, which struck down an earlier executive order on the same issue.
The Supreme Court had ruled that Trump's original order, issued at the start of his second term, violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The new orders, signed on August 6, specifically target "birth tourism," where pregnant women travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children gain automatic citizenship. The orders would deny citizenship to children of parents working for foreign governments, those involved in fraud to obtain citizenship, and individuals classified as "alien enemies."
In the court filing, the groups stated: "Despite the Supreme Court's clear direction, the President continues to claim for himself the power to identify categories of children whose citizenship he intends to deny." They are asking the court to clarify that the earlier injunction protects children from the new orders as well.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump called the Supreme Court decision "very unfortunate" and criticized birth tourism as "a disgrace," saying "people are building businesses around" it. He added, "They're buying their way in, and we're not going to let it happen."
Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement: "President Trump may not like the fact that birthright citizenship is a constitutional right. That is really beside the point. It's well past time for these illegal and cruel attacks on children's citizenship to end."
The White House and the Department of Justice have not yet responded to requests for comment. The Center for Immigration Studies estimated in 2020 that between 20,000 and 26,000 mothers enter the U.S. annually for birth tourism. U.S. government data shows there were 3.61 million births in the country in 2025.