WASHINGTON — Reuters reported late Tuesday that the State Department has drafted guidance under which parents or legal guardians applying for a child’s U.S. passport would have to provide evidence of their own citizenship or immigration status. It is a proposal, not a final rule — but it is the first reported operational look at how the administration could enforce President Trump’s August 6 order concerning birthright citizenship and what it calls “birth tourism.” Reuters reporting
The draft described by Reuters would require documents such as a parent’s U.S. passport or birth certificate, or immigration records including an I-94 or permanent-resident card, with a child’s passport application. The White House referred Reuters to the State Department; the reported guidance had not been finalized. So, yes: the family passport appointment may now come with the warm bureaucratic ambience of an ICE-adjacent document audit. Terrific. Somebody save me an onion ring.
The underlying August 6 executive order tells executive agencies not to issue documents recognizing U.S. citizenship to specified categories of people, including children tied to certain foreign-government employees, “alien enemies,” fraud, or commercial arrangements intended to obtain citizenship. It also directs the State Department, Justice Department, Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to align their policies with the order. Whether the proposed passport-screening procedure survives legal scrutiny is another question entirely, but the paperwork cannon is clearly being wheeled into position. Executive Order 14418
Sources
- https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/exclusivetrump-birthright-curbs-may-prompt-us-passport-checks-on-parents-4884658
- https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/continuing-to-protect-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/
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Featured image: Exterior of the United States Department of State Harry S. Truman Building, Washington, D.C., spring 2024 – 15.jpg by U.S. Department of State, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
