On Friday, June 27, 2025, the United States Supreme Court made an important decision that affects who can get U.S. citizenship at birth. The Court said the federal government can start enforcing parts of a January 20th executive order that limits automatic citizenship for some children born in the U.S. to nonimmigrant and undocumented parents.

More specifically, this executive order stated that at least one parent must be a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) (aka: green card holder) for their child to get citizenship at birth, even if the child is born on U.S. soil. Critics say this violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which has long been interpreted to grant citizenship to nearly everyone born in the U.S. Should the Executive Order be allowed to partially take effect, it remains unclear what the immigration status of children born to non-citizen or non-LPR parents not protected by  the current injunctions will be at birth. It also remains unclear whether, if the executive order is ultimately deemed unconstitutional, impacted children born in the U.S. while the ban was in effect would retroactively be accorded U.S. citizenship.