Decades after the late Democrat Harry Reid argued that “no sane country” would continue the U.S. policy of granting automatic citizenship to the children of illegal aliens, the Supreme Court will decide on whether the president may end the practice by executive order. The high court is expected to rule in the summer of 2026.
President Trump fulfilled a campaign promise by issuing an executive order on the first day of his second term, to limit automatic birthright citizenship to children who have at least one parents who is a legal permanent resident or U.S. citizen. The order was quickly blocked in the lower courts, setting up a case for the Supreme Court.
With the court taking up the case, two of the three branches of government are taking decisive action to address birthright citizenship. The question remains: will Congress act?
As of December 8, 2025, 71 Representatives have cosponsored Rep. Brian Babin’s Birthright Citizenship Act of 2025 (H.R. 569) in the House. Seven senators have signed on to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill in the Senate (S. 304). When it comes to the question of automatic birthright citizenship, there are only three positions in Congress:
A favorable ruling by the Supreme Court would be a momentous victory, but it would leave the door open for another president to reinstate the practice. We want to know what the Legislative Branch is prepared to do.
For decades, NumbersUSA has opposed automatically granting U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal aliens and temporary visitors. The United States and Canada are now the only developed nations that still do this.
We have long argued that automatic citizenship is a matter of federal statute, not the 14th Amendment. Others insist a constitutional amendment would be required to change the policy. But one fact has always stood out: the Supreme Court has never ruled directly on this question. The closest the Court has come was in the 1898 Wong Kim Ark case, in which the court held that a child born to lawfully domiciled (the equivalent to lawful permanent residence) Chinese parents was a citizen at birth.
We needed clarity. Now, at last, it appears we will get it.
“Under Biden’s current policies, even though these millions of illegal border crossers have entered the country unlawfully, all of their future children will become automatic U.S. citizens,” President Trump said during the campaign. “They’ll be eligible for welfare, taxpayer funded healthcare, the right to vote, chain migration, and countless other government benefits, many of which will also profit the illegal alien parents. This policy is a reward for breaking the laws of the United States.”
The official title of the executive order is “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” It would end automatic citizenship for children who do not have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident.
Before the Biden border surge, the U.S. was automatically issuing citizenship to an estimated 300,000 children born each year to parents who were either tourists from other countries or in the U.S. illegally. (Another estimated 100,000 are born every year to at least one parent who is in the U.S. illegally but also one parent who has permanent residency or U.S. citizenship. NumbersUSA has always argued for automatic citizenship for these births, and Trump’s order agrees with our position.)
President Trump was elected by voters who overwhelmingly rejected the historic wave of inadmissible aliens released into the country during the Biden administration. This was arguably the issue that decided the election. And yet any attempt to repair the damage done by the border crisis will be undermined as long as the government is issuing U.S. citizenship to every child born to an inadmissible alien who has been released.
Fact Sheet: Birthright Citizenship
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