Trump: US top court upholding birthright citizenship a win for China

U.S. President Donald Trump called China a winner Tuesday after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, dealing a major blow to his push to restrict who counts as an American.

“I would like to congratulate President Xi (Jinping), and the Great Country of China, on their massive Birthright Citizenship WIN,” Trump wrote on social media.

Trump has insisted that U.S. citizenship is not open to everyone in the world, while trying to block wealthy women from China and other countries from traveling to the United States for the sole purpose of giving birth within its borders.

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READ: Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship: Here’s what to know

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The president’s concise post on his Truth Social platform came hours after the justices, in a 6-3 decision, struck down his executive order that aimed to end automatic citizenship for those born in the United States, even if their parents are not citizens or do not have permanent legal residency.

The post came despite Trump’s recent efforts with Xi to stabilize the U.S.-China relationship.

Trump issued the executive order on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term in office, although the principle of birthright citizenship is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Ratified in 1868 following the Civil War, the first sentence of the amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

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READ: Trump going berserk, targets birthright, naturalized citizens

The amendment, which granted citizenship to former slaves at the time, is a cornerstone of U.S. democracy.

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The problem of so-called birth tourism — the target of Trump’s grievances — was also mentioned in the dissenting opinions of Tuesday’s ruling, with one of the justices, Clarence Thomas, noting, “Today, ‘birth tourism companies’ reportedly collect large fees from wealthy foreigners to facilitate their trips to give birth in the United States.”

The Trump administration and dissenting conservative justices viewed the amendment as primarily aimed at formerly enslaved Black people.

But Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.'”

“We keep that promise today,” Roberts wrote.

In a separate social media post, Trump criticized the decision as “too bad” for the United States and asserted that Congress could easily limit the right to citizenship by passing a law.

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“Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,” Trump wrote. “They will have my Complete and Total Support!” /dl