What US Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship ruling mean for ‘birth tourism’?

The US Supreme Court has struck down an executive order seeking to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the country to temporary or undocumented foreign nationals, delivering a major setback to the administration’s immigration policy and preserving the legal framework that has long underpinned the practice commonly referred to as "birth tourism".

In a 6-3 ruling in Trump vs Barbara, the court held that the executive order, signed on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term, violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The decision ensures that children born on American soil continue to be entitled to birthright citizenship irrespective of their parents’ immigration status.

The now-invalidated order had directed federal agencies to withhold Social Security numbers and US passports from newborns unless at least one parent was an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident. The administration argued that the framers of the Citizenship Clause in 1868 did not intend to extend automatic citizenship to children of temporary visitors or foreign tourists.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected that interpretation, describing it as a “dramatically revisionist view” of established constitutional law.

Roberts said the Fourteenth Amendment contains no language limiting citizenship based on whether a parent is in the country lawfully or temporarily. He noted that the constitutional text makes no distinction based on immigration status, making it irrelevant to a child's entitlement to citizenship by birth. The ruling was supported by a majority that included conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court’s liberal justices in preserving the long-standing interpretation of the Citizenship Clause.

The decision is expected to have significant implications for the global "birth tourism" industry, in which foreign nationals travel to the United States to give birth so their children automatically acquire US citizenship.

With the court reaffirming the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, the legal basis for obtaining US citizenship through birth on American soil remains unchanged. As a result, newborns born in the United States to foreign visitors remain eligible for US passports and other rights associated with citizenship, provided they meet existing constitutional requirements.