The Donald Trump administration has introduced a draft proposal requiring parents and legal guardians to submit proof of their own citizenship or legal immigration status when applying for a passport for their minor children.
Drafted by the US State Department, the measure serves as a framework to implement President Trump’s August 6 executive order, which targets “birth tourism” and seeks to limit birthright citizenship by narrowing its scope to exclude children of foreign government employees, individuals engaged in transactional or document fraud, or those classified as “alien enemies”.
Key Changes to the Process
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Shift in Documentation: While parents previously only needed to establish parentage, present photo IDs, and check a box indicating citizenship status without validation, the new rule mandates documentary evidence.
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Accepted Proof: Parents would be forced to supply documents such as valid US passports, birth certificates, legal permanent resident cards (green cards), or I-94 arrival-departure records.
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Adjudication Purpose: The State Department states that this data will be directly utilized to verify whether a newborn is subject to the restrictions outlined under Executive Order 14418.
The proposal immediately faces fierce legal scrutiny. Civil rights lawyers have already approached federal judges—including US District Judge Deborah Boardman—to block the directive, arguing it bypasses constitutional protections under the Fourteenth Amendment, which the US Supreme Court previously upheld in prior landmark challenges regarding birthright citizenship.
