Sen. Jim Banks introduced legislation Monday to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and birth tourists, using the very legal precedent the Supreme Court cited last month to rule against President Trump’s executive order.
Banks (R-IN) said he will introduce the Citizenship Act when the Senate opens for business Monday afternoon. The bill classifies anyone who enters the United States illegally or for the purpose of birth tourism as an “invader” under federal law, then amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to strip birthright citizenship from their children.
“The Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship decision was an unprecedented assault on American sovereignty, and we must do whatever it takes to save our country,” Banks told Fox News Digital. “I’m leading the Citizenship Act to reverse the effects of this consequential ruling and ensure the millions of illegal aliens that invaded our country can’t continue to exploit our immigration system.”
The bill takes direct aim at Trump v. Barbara, last month’s ruling in which Chief Justice John Roberts relied on the 1898 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark case to block the president’s executive order. Banks’ strategy flips that precedent. Wong Kim Ark itself carved out exceptions to birthright citizenship, including children of “enemies within” and those engaged in “hostile occupation” who are not “bound to render obedience” to the federal government. Banks argues illegal immigrants fit that description.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who sided with the court’s majority on the outcome but not the reasoning, wrote separately that Trump’s order conflicted with federal statute rather than the Constitution, and suggested Congress could fix the statute to close the loophole. Banks is following that roadmap exactly.
Trump recently told Senate Republicans they were “not fighting hard enough” on birthright citizenship, according to Banks’ account of a June 30 interview.
The Citizenship Act also draws on a 1993 bill introduced by then-Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) that proposed similar changes to immigration law. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has separately pushed to revive that legislation.
The bill does not attempt a constitutional amendment and does not ask courts to overturn any existing ruling. Instead, it would codify Trump’s 2025 executive order declaring illegal immigration an “invasion” and amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to exclude children of “invaders” from automatic citizenship, using exceptions the Wong Kim Ark court itself acknowledged as valid.
The U.S. has seen a surge in birth tourism in recent years, with foreign nationals traveling to the country specifically to secure citizenship for their children. Critics of the practice argue it was never the intent of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 to guarantee citizenship to freed slaves and their descendants.
Even Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a separate 2025 case, confirmed that children born of “alien enemies in hostile occupation” do not qualify for birthright citizenship under existing precedent, though she declined to extend that classification to illegal immigrants.
