US plans to curb birthright citizenship: How Trump's move could hit Indians in America | Explained

A little girl participates in a protest outside the US Supreme Court on May 14, 2025 in Washington, DC.

The United States is preparing for a major shift in its immigration policy, with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) drawing up an implementation plan to restrict birthright citizenship. This follows President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting the automatic granting of citizenship to children born in the US to parents who are neither American citizens nor lawful permanent residents. The move has sparked intense legal and political debate, as it challenges a 150-year-old interpretation of the US Constitution.

What is birthright citizenship and why is it controversial?

Birthright citizenship, enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, guarantees that anyone born on American soil is automatically a US citizen, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. This principle has been upheld for more than a century, dating back to the landmark 1898 Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. However, critics, including Trump, argue that this provision encourages illegal immigration and so-called “birth tourism,” where foreign nationals give birth in the US to secure citizenship for their children.

What Trump’s order says?

Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 that seeks to limit birthright citizenship to children with at least one parent who is a US citizen or a lawful permanent resident. This would mean that children born to undocumented immigrants or those on temporary visas, such as students, tourists, or workers, would no longer automatically receive citizenship. The order marks the most direct attempt by any administration to reinterpret the 14th Amendment without a constitutional amendment, something legal experts widely believe is necessary to make such a change.

USCIS implementation plan

According to a Times of India report, the USCIS is currently drafting a detailed plan to implement these restrictions, including new procedures to verify parental status at birth. This would involve changes in how birth certificates are issued and how immigration status is checked, potentially requiring coordination between federal and state agencies. The plan also anticipates legal hurdles and is designed to roll out quickly in states where the executive order is not blocked by the courts.

“The USCIS has a sinister plan to implement Trump’s ‘currently unconstitutional’ birthright citizenship executive order, in case the executive order (EO) is currently blocked to go into effect. Under it, the newborn child will not automatically be a US citizen but would take on the lawful but temporary status of the mother,” says Cyrus D Mehta, founder of an immigration law firm based in New York, as quoted by Times of India.

What it means for Indians?

If the executive order to restrict birthright citizenship takes effect, it could significantly impact Indian families living in or visiting the United States. Currently, thousands of Indians travel to the US on temporary visas for work, study, or tourism, and some even engage in “birth tourism” to secure US citizenship for their children. Under the proposed rule, children born to parents on temporary visas or those without permanent residency status would no longer receive automatic citizenship, removing a key incentive for such practices.

For Indian professionals on H-1B or other work visas, this change would also end the assurance that their US-born children would be citizens by birth, even if the family faces green card backlogs. These children would instead inherit the nationality of their parents, leaving their future tied to the parents’ immigration status. Immigration attorneys warn that this could complicate educational and residency plans for many Indian families in the US. Moreover, if implemented retroactively -- a concern still being debated -- it could affect children already born in the US to non-resident Indian parents.

For instance, if the husband holds an H-1B (temporary non-immigrant work visa) and the wife holds an H-4 (dependent visa), the child born in the US to this couple would get a dependent visa status and not American citizenship.