President Donald Trump is taking another shot at birthright citizenship, signing a pair of executive orders on Thursday designed to succeed where his last attempt failed.
The move comes just weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his broader effort to limit automatic U.S. citizenship.
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What the orders say
One targets what he calls “birth tourism”, which consists of travel to the United States for the purpose of giving birth so a child receives American citizenship.
“If you’re telling a consular officer you’re here as a tourist, but your true purpose and intent is to go to a baby mill, give birth and try to mint an American citizen while you’re here and you’re committing a fraud against the American government,” Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, said.
Trump added that “hundreds of thousands” of people are taking advantage of birth tourism.
The second order takes a narrower approach to birthright citizenship than his previous order, expanding the list of people who would not qualify.
Miller said the list would include, “alien enemies of the United States, members of foreign terrorist organizations and large categories of people who lobby and act on behalf of foreign governments.’
Will the orders stick?
The new orders are expected to face legal challenges of their own.
However, the administration argues they address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court and says it believes they’re constitutional.
“We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright. It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision,” Trump said. “So we’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair. This was done for a different reason; this was done right after the Civil War. This was for the babies of slaves. And what’s happening now, if people are building businesses around it… wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship; that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. It’s a disgrace. They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen.”