CHICAGO, Illinois, September 5, 2026 — The U.S. Department of State has proposed regulations in which parents must prove they are U.S. citizens or lawful immigrants before their children can receive a passport here. The proposed plan backs President Donald Trump’s Aug. 6 executive order limiting who is eligible for birthright citizenship, detailed further under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Others claimed to see a correlation between the proposed plan and specific individuals or groups within their neighborhood. The first detailed peek at how officials might enforce it was provided in draft guidance.
New Documents at the Passport Counter
Under the proposal, citizen parents would be allowed to present a valid U.S. passport or birth certificate. Noncitizen parents would have to show immigration records, like an I-94 arrival form or green card managed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That record would be used by officials to determine if a child meets the new order.
Now, parents just show photo ID to establish their relationship with the child. However, on Form DS-11 they just check a box indicating their citizenship without filing any proof. If so, this would change very quickly if the draft turns into strategy.
The rule would make that requirement sweeping, hitting nearly all U.S. immigrants who are parents of a citizen child. Officials say the added step allows them to implement Trump’s order without actually changing citizenship law. But immigration lawyers, following legal analyses from the American Bar Association, argue that it converts a simple request for a passport into an investigation of citizenship.
An Order Already Swept into Court
The order from Trump aims at what the administration terms “birth tourism” and limits previously recognized exceptions to birthright citizenship. Civil rights attorneys contend the policy itself is unconstitutional and have brought class-action lawsuits on behalf of babies impacted. Others include two federal judges considering requests to halt the order from taking effect.
Earlier this week, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott responded to criticisms of the approach. Trump, he said, had been “unequivocal that this administration will protect the meaning” of citizenship. The White House redirected detailed questions to the State Department.
According to the draft guidance, the Aug. 6 order does double duty. It allows the limited targeting of mothers who come to the U.S. for the sole purpose of having children here—juxtaposing it against claims that such atrocities are not allowed in America. It additionally expands outdated historical exclusions written into existing citizenship law.
Who Would Be The First Impacted
Mixed-status families would be challenged most stringently at the passport counter. A citizen parent married to a green-card holder, for example, would require two sets of documents. Immigration lawyers say the additional paperwork could delay applications for weeks.
Attorneys for those filing the class-action lawsuits contend that babies cannot be punished for their parent’s status. They want the order halted nationally while courts deliberate. To date, no judge has ruled definitively on the merits.
Attorneys say that the shift changes enforcement posture but not the underlying law on citizenship itself. For now, only internal agency guidance is in motion. That leaves the courts as the last resort to challenge this policy before it takes root.
Where the Legal Battle Goes From Here
With so much on the line for birthright citizenship, this case could someday land before the Supreme Court. Courts have to determine whether a president can make the status of a parent dispositive on whether that child has a good faith claim as it relates to citizenship. And that question lies at the heart of the lawsuits in limbo.
Currently the passport guidelines are still in draft form with no rollout date. Immigration attorneys have begun advising clients to stay observant of litigation developments prior to moving forward with an application. It will affect the ability of thousands of American children born to noncitizen parents to apply for passports.
In the best of circumstances, passport processing takes weeks, according to the department. Further stretching that timeline is the introduction of additional document review once any fresh policy takes effect. Families planning to travel abroad this year say they are following the litigation with increasing concern.
