Ending Birthright Citizenship Would Increase, Not Decrease, Unauthorized U.S. Population

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed 26 executive orders on Jan. 20. Among them was the “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” order, which stated that children born in the United States to parents who are not legal or permanent residents should not be considered U.S. citizens.

But according to a recent study by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and Penn State University’s Population Research Institute, eliminating birthright citizenship would increase—not decrease—the number of unauthorized individuals living in the United States in the long run.

Ending birthright citizenship has been one of Trump’s central goals for years, dating back to his 2020 reelection campaign.

“The United States is among the only countries in the world that says even if neither parent is a citizen, or even lawfully in the country, their future children are automatic citizens the moment the parents trespass onto our soil,” Trump said in 2018.

A recent study cited by Border Report found that ending birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visa holders would significantly increase the country’s population of unauthorized citizens.

According to the study, the number of undocumented individuals would grow by 2.7 million over the next 20 years. By 2075, that figure could rise to 5.4 million, making the total population of unauthorized people at approximately 17.1 million.

The study argues that revoking birthright citizenship would “create a self-perpetuating, multi-generational underclass,” or in other words, it would result in generations of people born in the United States who are not considered citizens. Over time, this could lead to a large segment of the population permanently stuck in a “second-class status” with fewer opportunities to succeed or fully participate in society.

Researchers also found that such a policy shift would damage economic mobility for families labeled as undocumented—even when their children are born on U.S. soil. Without citizenship, those children would face greater challenges accessing jobs and education, among other things that help people move up economically.

“This creation of a class of U.S.-born residents deprived of the rights that citizenship conveys to their neighbors, classmates and work colleagues could sow the seeds for significant disruption to economic mobility and social cohesion in the years and decades ahead,” the report states

Among the reasons cited by the Trump administration for revoking birthright citizenship is “birth tourism” — the practice of individuals traveling to the United States to give birth so their children can obtain U.S. citizenship.

However, the Migration Policy Institute report argues there are more effective ways to address the issue. According to the report, only about 9,000 of the 3.6 million annual U.S. births are to nonresident foreign mothers.

“There are targeted measures, including visa enforcement and airline screening, that offer more effective and proportional responses than repealing a right enshrined in the Constitution in 1868 with the 14th Amendment and endorsed in 1898 by the Supreme Court,” the report states.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on May 15 in a case involving several lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.