Update: On July 10, 2025, a federal district judge in New Hampshire certified a class of challengers to the Trump administration’s Executive Order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” which ends birthright citizenship for certain migrants. Certifying a class means that the court agrees to recognize that a group of people – or “class” – has the right to proceed with a class action lawsuit as a group. The class in this case, Barbara et al. v. Trump, was certified for all children born after February 20, 2025, to parents who are in the United States temporarily or without authorization, who would be subject to the Executive Order. The judge then issued a preliminary injunction that applies nationwide in favor of the class. This injunction once again pauses enforcement of the Trump administration’s ban on birthright citizenship.
Timeline:
June 27 – The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to grant the Trump administration’s request to remove a nationwide injunction on the EO to end birthright citizenship. While nationwide injunctions have been used across presidential administrations, they have particularly been a tool for the judiciary in recent months to place a faster check on Trump’s sweeping use of presidential power. States, individuals, or advocates who are suing the Trump administration over potentially illegal policy decisions to ask for those policy actions to be temporarily put on hold – a temporary injunction – while any litigation against the actions is fully considered in court. This ruling will limit the ability of federal courts overall to place nationwide injunctions on executive branch actions. The Supreme Court’s ruling does not say that the birthright citizenship policy itself is valid or constitutional; that question will still be considered by the courts in the ongoing case Casa v. Trump. The ruling would, however, allow Trump’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship to go into effect after 30 days in the 28 states that have not sued the administration over the order, even if it is later struck down as unconstitutional by the courts.
February – March 2025 – District courts grant injunctions blocking the EO from taking effect as the result of three separate lawsuits filed against the EO, by the state of Washington, state of New Jersey, and CASA (an immigrants’ rights membership and advocacy group based in Maryland).
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” This EO imposes a radical interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, so that it no longer extends birthright citizenship to all persons born in the United States.
There are two main theories or principles that most nations apply when determining who can become a citizen, which are known by their Latin terms. There is “jus sanguinis,” which is the principle that a person may acquire citizenship based on the citizenship of their parents, and “jus soli,” which means that one acquires citizenship based on where they were born.
The longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment has been that citizenship is guaranteed at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, based on jus soli. But some individuals born outside of the United States to U.S. citizen parents are born U.S. citizens based on jus sanguinis (for example, the children of diplomats). Congress, through the Immigration and Nationality Act, has outlined the rules for the cases of citizenship acquired through jus sanguinis.
This EO states that this long-held belief of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of jus soli birthright citizenship is wrong and sets out a new standard for the persons who will qualify for it. It states that a person does not acquire citizenship if (1) their mother was unlawfully present in the United States and their father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when a person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary—for example they were visiting the United States as a tourist, student, or temporary worker—and if the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of the person’s birth.
The EO prohibits the departments and agencies of the U.S. government from issuing documents recognizing United States citizenship to persons born under those circumstances, and prohibits them from accepting documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship. The new standard for birthright citizenship will apply to all persons born within the United States 30 days after the issuance of the EO. The ultimate impact of this EO will be to create a new underclass of people who are left stateless and without rights.