Home Issues & Policy II. Birthright Citizenship | REPORT ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S 2025-2026 CHANGES TO IMMIGRATION LAW

II. Birthright Citizenship | REPORT ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S 2025-2026 CHANGES TO IMMIGRATION LAW

 

II. Birthright Citizenship

Part of The Trump Administration’s 2025-26 Changes to Immigration Law — last updated July 10, 2026. Download the full report (PDF).

On January 20, 2025, the President issued the Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship EO111 in an attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. This EO seeks to eliminate birthright citizenship for two classes of children: (a) a child of an unlawfully-present mother if the father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR); and (b) a child of a mother with temporary status (e.g., a non-immigrant visa, Temporary Protected Status, etc.) if the father is not a U.S. citizen or LPR. The order would become effective for any births occurring after February 19, 2025.

Legal Challenges: Several legal challenges to this EO were immediately brought. These include Casa Inc. v Trump (D.Md.),112 arguing violation of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 301(a)(8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)), with a preliminary injunction issued on February 5, 2025,113 and with the Fourth Circuit declining on February 28, 2025 to grant the government a partial stay of the preliminary injunction.114 On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court granted a partial stay of the preliminary injunction in this case and related cases, discussed below.115 On July 29, 2025, the Fourth Circuit remanded the case to the district court.116 On August 9, 2025, the district court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a classwide preliminary injunction and denied the motion for a temporary restraining order; the court also dissolved the February 5, 2025, preliminary injunction.117 New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support v Trump (D.N.H.),118 arguing violation of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, with an injunction issued on February 10, 2025.119 New Jersey v Trump (D.Mass.),120 arguing violation of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment and INA § 301(a)(8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)), with a preliminary injunction121 and memorandum of decision122 both issued on February 13, 2025. On March 11, 2025, the First Circuit denied the government’s motion for a stay,123 and on April 23, 2025 denied the defendants’ challenge to the preliminary injunction as well as denying other pending motions as moot.124 Washington v Trump (W.D.Wash.),125 arguing violation of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment and INA § 301(a)(8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)), with a preliminary injunction issued on February 6, 2025,126 and with the Ninth Circuit on February 19, 2025, denying the government’s emergency motion for a stay of the district court’s injunction.127 The Supreme Court issued an order granting a partial stay on June 27, 2025, and the Ninth Circuit on remand affirmed the preliminary injunction order on July 24, 2025.128 Doe v. Trump (D.Mass.),129 on the grounds of violation of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, Equal Protection Clause of the 5th Amendment, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and INA § 301(a)(8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)), with a preliminary injunction issued on February 13, 2025.130 OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates v. Rubio (D.D.C.), arguing violation of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, the APA, and INA § 301(a)(8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)), with the court on May 14, 2025, denying the defendants’ motion to stay proceedings.131 The court then stayed proceedings until further order on December 8, 2025, after the Supreme Court indicated it will review whether the EO is lawful.132 County of Santa Clara v. Trump (N.D.Cal.),133 arguing violation of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, the APA, and INA § 301(a)(8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)). The court ordered that the case be stayed, pending developments in Washington v. Trump and New Jersey v. Trump.134 New York Immigration Coalition v. Trump (S.D.N.Y.),135 arguing violations of Citizenship Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, § 301(a)(8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)), and the APA. Franco Aleman v. Trump (W.D.Wash.),136 arguing violations of Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment and the APA, which was consolidated with Washington v. Trump.137 Thien Le v Trump (C.D.Cal.),138 filed under seal, was stayed on February 14, 2025, pending developments in Washington v. Trump.139 The case was further stayed on July 8, 2025, pending further proceedings on remand in Trump v. Casa, Inc.140

The City Bar issued a statement on March 6, 2025, urging lawmakers, the courts, and the public to recognize this EO as unconstitutional.141

On May 15, 2025, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the issue of nationwide injunctions, related to the birthright citizenship EO.142

On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in the consolidated action, Trump v. CASA Inc.,143 staying the injunctions “to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue.”144 The Court’s reasoning focused on the illegality of universal injunctions and did not reach the merits of plaintiffs’ claims.145

On the same day the CASA opinion was issued, Barbara v. Trump (D.N.H.), a class action lawsuit with a motion for preliminary injunction, was filed on behalf of:

All current and future persons who are born on or after February 20, 2025, where (1) that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, as well as the parents (including expectant parents) of those persons.146

On July 10, 2025, the district court certified the plaintiffs’ proposed class of children, but denied to certify a class for the parents and expectant parents.147 The court then issued a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of the Executive Order as to all certified class members.148

On July 25, 2025, USCIS issued an “Implementation Plan of Executive Order 14160 – Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.”149 The plan recognizes that a preliminary injunction is currently in place, but the plan is intended “in the event that [the EO] is permitted to go into effect.”150 The plan clarifies legal questions related to implementation, including defining “unlawfully present” and “the meaning of ‘presence’ that is ‘lawful but temporary.'”151

On December 5, 2025, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Barbara v. Trump.152 On June 30, 2026, by a 6-3 decision, the Court found the EO to be unconstitutional.153

Continue to III. Undoing Biden Administration Protections →

Footnotes

Numbering continues from the full report — this section spans footnotes 111–153.

  1. Exec. Order No. 14160, Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, 90 Fed. Reg. 8449 (Jan. 29, 2025). ↩
  2. Complaint, CASA, Inc. v. Trump, No. 8:25-cv-00201 (D. Md. Jan. 21, 2025). ↩
  3. CASA, Inc. v. Trump, 763 F. Supp. 3d 723 (D. Md. 2025), appeal dismissed and remanded, No. 25-1153, 2025 WL 2141296 (4th Cir. July 29, 2025). ↩
  4. CASA, Inc. v. Trump, No. CV 25-0201, 2025 WL 545840, at *1 (D. Md. Feb. 18, 2025). ↩
  5. Trump v. CASA, Inc., 606 U.S. 831 (2025). ↩
  6. CASA, Inc. v. Trump, No. 25-1153, 2025 WL 2141296, at *1 (4th Cir. July 29, 2025). ↩
  7. CASA, Inc. v. Trump, 793 F. Supp. 3d 687 (D. Md. 2025). ↩
  8. New Hampshire Indonesian Cmty. Support v Trump, 1:25-cv-00038 (D.N.H. Jan. 20, 2025). ↩
  9. New Hampshire Indonesian Cmty. Support v. Trump, No. 25-CV-38, 2025 WL 440821 (D.N.H. Feb. 10, 2025). ↩
  10. Complaint, New Jersey v. Trump, 1:25-cv-10139 (D. Mass. Jan. 21, 2025). ↩
  11. Id., Order. ↩
  12. Doe v. Trump, 766 F. Supp. 3d 266 (D. Mass. 2025), aff’d sub nom. New Jersey v. Trump, No. 25-1200, 2025 WL 2495232 (1st Cir. Apr. 23, 2025). ↩
  13. New Jersey v. Trump, 131 F.4th 27 (1st Cir. 2025). ↩
  14. New Jersey v. Trump, No. 25-1200, 2025 WL 2495232, at *1 (1st Cir. Apr. 23, 2025). ↩
  15. Plaintiff’s Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, Washington v. Trump, 2:25-cv-00127 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 21, 2025). ↩
  16. Washington v. Trump, 765 F. Supp. 3d 1142 (W.D. Wash.), aff’d, 145 F.4th 1013 (9th Cir. 2025). ↩
  17. State of Washington v. Trump, No. 25-807, 2025 WL 553485 (9th Cir. Feb. 19, 2025). ↩
  18. Washington v. Trump, 145 F.4th 1013 (9th Cir. 2025). ↩
  19. Complaint, Doe v. Trump, 1:25-cv-10135 (D. Mass. Jan. 20, 2025). ↩
  20. Id., Order; Doe v. Trump, 766 F. Supp. 3d 266 (D. Mass. 2025), aff’d sub nom. New Jersey v. Trump, No. 25-1200, 2025 WL 2495232 (1st Cir. Apr. 23, 2025). ↩
  21. Complaint, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates v. Rubio, 1:25-cv-00287 (D.D.C. Jan. 30, 2025). ↩
  22. Id., Minute Order. ↩
  23. County of Santa Clara v. Trump, 5:25-cv-00981 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 19, 2025). ↩
  24. Id. ↩
  25. Complaint, New York Immigration Coalition v. Trump, 1:25-cv-01309 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 13, 2025). ↩
  26. Complaint, Franco Aleman v. Trump, 2:25-cv-00163 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 24, 2025). ↩
  27. Id., Order. ↩
  28. Complaint, Thien Le v Trump, 8:25-cv-00104 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 20, 2025). ↩
  29. Id., Order. ↩
  30. Id., Order. ↩
  31. The Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship is Unconstitutional, N.Y. City Bar (Mar. 7, 2025). ↩
  32. Nina Totenberg, Supreme Court justices appear divided in birthright citizenship arguments, NPR (May 15, 2025). ↩
  33. 145 S. Ct. 2540 (2025). ↩
  34. Id. at 2562–63. ↩
  35. See generally id. ↩
  36. Complaint, Barbara v. Trump, 1:25-cv-00244 (D.N.H. June 27, 2025). ↩
  37. Id., Order. ↩
  38. Id. at *15. ↩
  39. USCIS, USCIS Implementation Plan of Executive Order 14160 – Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, IP-2025-0001 (July 25, 2025). ↩
  40. Id. at 1. ↩
  41. Id. at 2. ↩
  42. U.S. Supreme Court, Miscellaneous Orders (Dec. 5, 2025). ↩
  43. Id., Order. ↩