Trump even personally attended Supreme Court arguments connected to the dispute, an extraordinary demonstration of how seriously the president views the issue.
Now the administration is attempting to target circumstances it argues fall outside the traditional protections surrounding birthright citizenship.
On Thursday, Trump signed new executive orders addressing what has become known as “birth tourism,” in which foreign nationals travel to the United States for the purpose of giving birth on American soil.
The administration’s approach focuses on several categories of births that officials argue raise distinct legal questions.
One involves children born to foreign diplomatic personnel and other noncitizens working in the United States on behalf of foreign governments.
Children of accredited foreign diplomats have long been treated differently under the 14th Amendment because their parents are generally not considered subject to U.S. jurisdiction in the same way as ordinary residents.
The administration is seeking to apply that principle more broadly to certain other foreign-government personnel.
Another category involves the children of individuals classified as alien enemies, including people associated with federally designated terrorist organizations.
The administration is drawing on the historical understanding that children born to members of an invading enemy force do not automatically acquire citizenship merely because the birth occurs on American soil.
A third proposal concerns U.S. territories.
Any change there would depend upon congressional action rather than presidential authority alone. Legislation has been introduced that could alter existing citizenship rules, although its prospects in Congress remain uncertain.
The provision likely to generate the most immediate attention, however, concerns commercial birth tourism.
Trump’s order seeks to address cases in which a woman allegedly enters the United States through deception for the express purpose of giving birth and obtaining citizenship for her child.
The administration also wants authorities to examine arrangements involving surrogate mothers used as part of commercial birth-tourism operations.
The legal argument centers heavily on fraud.
Administration officials contend there is an important difference between a foreign visitor who happens to give birth while lawfully present in the country and someone who allegedly misrepresents the purpose of a trip in order to exploit U.S. immigration and citizenship rules.
Federal rules already restrict the use of tourist visas when an applicant’s primary purpose is traveling to America to give birth so that the child receives U.S. citizenship.
Immigration authorities can also deny entry when they determine that a pregnant traveler is attempting to enter the country primarily for that reason.
Trump’s new actions seek to build upon those existing restrictions and put additional pressure on businesses that allegedly organize or profit from such trips.
A separate executive order directs the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to develop regulations and guidance aimed at stopping birth-tourism operations.
That could expand the administration’s focus beyond individual travelers and toward the companies, facilitators and networks that help arrange travel, housing and other services for expectant mothers.
Congress has already begun scrutinizing the industry.
The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into birth-tourism operations and in May sought documents from a company called “Have My Baby in Miami.”
The committee framed the issue as more than simply an immigration dispute.
“The benefits of U.S. citizenship are a unique privilege,” the committee wrote.
Lawmakers also raised concerns about where many customers of birth-tourism businesses reportedly originate.
“However, as foreign expectant mothers traveling for this purpose come predominantly from China and Russia, there are concerns that the birth tourism industry is giving rise to potential national security and election integrity threats posed by adversarial nations that challenge U.S. interests,” the committee added.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee has also examined the broader birthright-citizenship issue, releasing a report on the subject in 2022.
Determining the true size of America’s birth-tourism industry has proved difficult.
Estimates cited in reporting range from several thousand children per year to tens of thousands, reflecting the challenge of determining whether a foreign visitor entered the country specifically to give birth.
That uncertainty is one reason enforcement has historically been difficult.
Pregnancy itself does not establish fraudulent intent. Authorities must determine why an individual sought admission to the United States and whether information was deliberately concealed or misrepresented.
The new Trump orders could therefore trigger another major round of litigation over exactly where presidential immigration authority ends and the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment begins.
Critics are likely to argue that the Constitution establishes citizenship based primarily on the circumstances of birth and jurisdiction, not the immigration motives or conduct of a child’s parents.
The administration, meanwhile, is betting that cases involving diplomats, enemy aliens and alleged immigration fraud give it firmer legal ground than a sweeping attempt to redefine birthright citizenship across the board.
Trump has made clear that he does not intend to abandon the issue simply because his broader citizenship agenda encountered resistance in federal court.
Instead, the White House is narrowing the battlefield.
And with federal agencies now being instructed to target the commercial infrastructure behind birth tourism, the next major fight over who automatically becomes an American citizen may be only beginning.
