A federal judge in the United States has refused to block President Donald Trump's new executive order restricting birthright citizenship and targeting so-called birth tourism, the practice of traveling to the country so a child is born on US soil and gains citizenship. Judge Deborah Boardman, of the federal court in Maryland, denied a preliminary injunction requested by immigrant rights organizations, according to Brazilian outlet G1.

Trump signed two executive orders on the issue on August 6. The first targets birth tourism and also aims to restrict the use of surrogacy arrangements for that purpose. The second bars recognition of US citizenship for children born in the United States to members of foreign diplomatic missions. The administration argues that traveling to the country solely to secure automatic citizenship for a newborn is an undue exploitation of the immigration system and a threat to national security.

The decision matters directly for Brazil. Birth tourism is also practiced by Brazilian families, and G1 published dedicated coverage explaining what changes for them under the new rule. There is also an underlying contrast: Brazil follows the very principle the White House is trying to narrow, jus soli, under which anyone born on Brazilian territory is, as a rule, a natural-born Brazilian citizen.

Who is affected by the new rule

According to G1, the Trump administration contends that the Supreme Court's June ruling, which struck down a broader decree signed on inauguration day, left room to restrict citizenship in specific situations already recognized by legislation and case law. The new order would therefore apply only to future births tied to four categories:

• children of women who enter the United States exclusively to give birth, the central target of the crackdown on birth tourism;
• children of members of foreign diplomatic missions, expanding restrictions now applied to ambassadors' relatives;
• children of people classified by the government as "foreign enemies", a category that would include members of groups the US considers terrorist organizations;
• children born in US territories such as Puerto Rico, a change that would take effect only if Congress amends current law. A bill to that end was introduced last month, but is not expected to pass, according to the US news site Axios.

The order also directs the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to draft rules curbing birth tourism inside and outside the country. Exceptions are limited to cases of national interest or specific humanitarian grounds. No US law explicitly bans the practice, but a 2020 regulation from Trump's first term already prohibits using tourist and business visas when the main purpose of the trip is obtaining citizenship for a newborn. Participants in such schemes can face fraud charges, and immigration officers may turn away pregnant travelers they suspect of that intent.

Trump's defeat at the Supreme Court and his response to it explain the narrower design of the new orders. When signing them, the Republican called the court's judgment "very unfortunate" and defended the measures:

"Rich people are building businesses around birthright citizenship. That's not how it was supposed to work. [...] They are buying their way in, and we are not going to let that happen."

Notably, the judge who now kept the order in force is the same one who last year sided with immigrant groups and blocked the administration's initial 2025 executive order, which restricted birthright citizenship more broadly. The shift in outcome suggests that, for the US judiciary, the problem lay in the scope of the original text. The legal battle, however, is expected to continue in higher courts.