LANSING, Mich. — Just five weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his administration's sweeping attempt to end birthright citizenship, President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders Thursday aimed at restricting the practice of "birth tourism."
WATCH: TRUMP SIGNS NEW ORDERS RESTRICTING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP WEEKS AFTER RULING
The executive actions represent a narrower, second attempt to curb citizenship at birth by targeting pregnant foreign nationals traveling to the U.S. on temporary tourist visas to give birth, as well as children of foreign diplomats and "alien enemies."
The White House argues these restrictions fall under historical exceptions to the Fourteenth Amendment.
However, local legal experts say the administration is overstepping its constitutional boundaries.
Jeffrey Swartz, a former judge and Professor Emeritus at Lansing's Thomas M. Cooley Law School, said the executive orders represent a president attempting to legislate on his own.
Swartz noted that the president is making a determination that people who come here on temporary visas and have children are committing visa fraud, using that as justification to deny birthright citizenship.
"This is Donald Trump believing he has the power to legislate instead of Congress and to make determinations on what is or is not constitutional instead of the Supreme Court," Swartz said.
The administration’s first executive order seeks to exclude children of "alien enemies" and foreign diplomats from automatic citizenship, while also invalidating the citizenship of babies born to parents who engaged in commercial transactions with "birth tourism" travel agencies.
The second order directs the Departments of State and Homeland Security to deny U.S. tourist visas to pregnant women suspected of traveling to the country solely to give birth.
Critics and immigrant advocacy groups have quickly condemned the orders as a direct attempt to evade the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling in Trump v. Barbara.
The ruling affirmed 6-3 that children born on U.S. soil to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are guaranteed citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Swartz explained that the president is attempting to exploit a legal loophole by narrowing the focus from a total ban on birthright citizenship to targeting specific categories of foreign nationals.
Swartz pointed out that Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurring opinion in Barbara made it clear the executive branch does not have the authority to bypass the Constitution.
"[POTUS] can't do what only Congress can do," Swartz said. "His executive order has no more force and effect than his original order on birthright citizenship."
The legal battle is expected to move rapidly. Swartz anticipates that opponents will immediately file lawsuits in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and expects the case to make its way back to the Supreme Court within the next year.
"I have no doubts how the circuit will find this case will find its way to the Supreme Court within the next 12 to 18 months, maybe sooner," Swartz said.
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