What’s Happening
On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Trump v. Barbara, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees U.S. citizenship to children born in the United States regardless of whether their parents are present in the United States temporarily (including in nonimmigrant status) or without lawful immigration status.
In this 6-3 decision, the Court struck down President Trump's January 20, 2025 Executive Order 14160, reaffirming more than 125 years of Supreme Court precedent recognizing birthright citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Read MoreOn Friday, June 27, 2025, the United States Supreme Court made an important decision that affects who can get U.S. citizenship at birth. The Court said the federal government can start enforcing parts of a January 20th executive order that limits automatic citizenship for some children born in the U.S. to nonimmigrant and undocumented parents.
More specifically, this executive order stated that at least one parent must be a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) (aka: green card holder) for their child to get citizenship at birth, even if the child is born on U.S. soil. Critics say this violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which has long been interpreted to grant citizenship to nearly everyone born in the U.S. Should the Executive Order be allowed to partially take effect, it remains unclear what the immigration status of children born to non-citizen or non-LPR parents not protected by the current injunctions will be at birth. It also remains unclear whether, if the executive order is ultimately deemed unconstitutional, impacted children born in the U.S. while the ban was in effect would retroactively be accorded U.S. citizenship.
Read MoreWhat’s Happening
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed numerous executive orders (EOs), including several pertaining to or impacting immigration. The content and anti-immigrant sentiment of most of these EO’s were not unexpected. While they largely focussed on border enforcement, undocumented immigrants, and humanitarian immigration, the President’s Day 1 EOs also have potential implications for foreign nationals seeking entry to the United States, birthright citizenship, and other policies affecting noncitizens more broadly.
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