Trump Limits Birthright Citizenship, Hormuz Deal, Iran War Fallout

Now, President Trump is trying again this time with two executive orders that are narrower in scope. Will they be challenged in court? I'm Leyla Faudel. That's a Martinez, and this is a first from NPR News. Iran has released details of an agreement it is finalizing with Oman to reopen the state of

our moves. The critical waterway wouldn't be open to American and Israeli ships,

and the ships allowed through would be charged a fee. And President Trump's public messaging about what happens next in Iran is not matching reality. Why does that keep happening? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. This week, I'm consider this. Virginia thought her criminal record would follow her forever, until a few minutes with an AI app that told her she could clear her felonies.

You'll never find a harder worker than someone who has something to prove to themselves how AI could help millions of Americans with criminal records find work. This week, I'm consider this from NPR. Hey there, I'm Brittany Luce, and I don't know, maybe this is a little out of pockets to say,

“but I think you should listen to my podcast.”

It's called it's been a minute, and I love it. And I think you will, too. Over the past couple months, over 100,000 new listeners started tuning in. Find out why. Listen to the it's been a minute podcast from NPR today. President Trump is once again trying to put restrictions on who is automatically guaranteed citizenship after being born in the US.

Less than two months ago, the Supreme Court rejected Trump's previous attempt. It ruled the Constitution guarantees it reaffirmed this. Actually, the Constitution guarantees automatic birthright citizenship to virtually all children born in the US. Trump's focus now is more narrow than last time. NPR's Julianna Kim is covering the two executive orders,

“President Trump signed on Thursday, Juliana, what did they say?”

The first order looks to restrict who's eligible for birthright citizenship. That includes babies born to members of foreign terrorist groups or employees of foreign governments, such as embassy or consulate staff who are foreign nationals. The second order says the administration will work to deny visas to people who it thinks are coming to the US to engage in birth tourism.

This is an issue that Trump has raised for years. The term refers to when pregnant foreigners visit the US in order to give birth so that their newborn can obtain American citizenship. Senior White House Adviser Stephen Miller was at the Oval Office when the executive orders

were announced, and he called the crackdown on birth tourism as one of the most important

actions that Trump has taken when it comes to immigration. Because it ends what has been one of the greatest and most egregious abuses of the American system and it keeps American citizenship sacred.

“Juliana, you've reported on birth tourism. Tell us how big of an issue is this?”

You know, over the years there have been some crackdowns on covert, lucrative businesses, kind of coaching travelers on how to conceal their pregnancies from immigration authorities, but you know, set these scandals aside. The actual scale of birth tourism is unclear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in 2024, fewer than 10,000 babies were born in the US to foreign residents. Meanwhile, the Center for Immigration Studies is a group

that supports restricting immigration and by their estimated temporary visitors gave birth to about 70,000 babies in 2023. Both estimates suggest that tourists' births make up a small

fraction of the 3.6 million babies born in the US every year, and it's why immigration advocates

argue that the issue of birth tourism is being blown out of proportion. How likely is that the executive order restricting birth rights citizenship takes effect? Trump tried to restrict birth rights citizenship last year through an executive order. That one targeted babies born to parents in the US illegally or on temporary visas. The order was quickly challenged in the courts, and this June, the nation's highest court struck down, reaffirming that birth rights citizenship

is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. And it's why some legal experts expect Thursday's executive order to also face legal challenges. I asked David Beard about this. He's an immigration policy analyst with the Kato Institute, a libertarian think tank. This is a situation where you would hope that the Supreme Court would step in very quickly to enforce its prior decision. Allowed the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about this. All right, that's MPRs, Julianna Kim. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Yeah, that's the critical shipping route that goes through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.

“Ships have not been able to pass free lease since the war began in February,”

blockaded by Iran and then the US. To discuss what this agreement might entail, we're joined now by reporter Samir Hashmi in Dubai. So what new details do we have based on discussions in Iran's Parliament? Well, the Iran state media shared details of the agreement with Oman on Thursday. According to Iran, the deal bans any American or Israeli vessels passing through the state of Hormuz, it will also find violators with up to 20% of cargo value,

and a country's and individuals deemed to have caused damage to Iran would be denied passage through the state and the Persian Gulf until Iran is compensated for war damages.

Iran says it will also be responsible for navigation guidance, monitoring vessel, traffic,

maritime security and environmental protection. Iran has also denied reports of a disagreement with Oman on toll charges. The fee according to the draft shared by Iran in media would be a combination

“of many variables. And as Iran said earlier this week, this all remains conditional on Washington”

ending its blockade of Iranian ports. As of now, Oman has still not commented on any of this. Okay, what about the reaction of other Gulf countries? There hasn't been any official response on the draft from other Gulf countries yet, but all of them have been pushing for a de-escalation, even during the course of the war, the UAE Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were attacked by Iran and none of the oil producers, the Gulf oil producers have been able to

export oil through the state of Hormuz, which is also having a severe impact on their economies. So they are keen to have an agreement in place that the earliest that would allow the state of Hormuz to be unblocked. And in the past, the Gulf countries have officially rejected Iran's proposal to manage and control the state of Hormuz. They've called it a gross violation of international law and undermining the international maritime organization. Now in the meantime,

“though, the Houthi rebels carried out attacks against Saudi Arabia yesterday. Can you share any”

details on that? Yes, the attack was carried out inside Saudi Arabia's territory in the southern Nigerian province on Thursday, it endured 11 civilians according to the Saudi military. There was no immediate comments from the Houthis, but the Iranian-backed militia has increased attacks against Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, including attacks on Saudi oil vessels in the Red Sea, that has disrupted oil supplies from the country. Now, the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, the

two well locked in a war for many years, that ended in a cruise in 2022, but the latest escalation risks unraveling that ceasefire. The Houthis also said that they attacked military camps in central Yemen yesterday, killing dozens of Yemeni government troops, which are backed by Saudi Arabia. All right, that's the mirror. How's me in Dubai? Thank you very much. Thank you very much. President Trump has repeatedly said that no one will be allowed to control the state of Hormuz,

which would suggest he will not go along with a plan that keeps American and Israeli vessels out of it. That sets up another potential confrontation between Washington and Tehran, that could unravel many agreement to reopen the waterway. MPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonius joins us now to discuss the latest talks. Franco, the president, has said many times before that a deal was closed, but in particular, this week, that a deal was really close.

So what happened? Yeah, it's just clear that what President Trump is saying publicly about progress is either not matching the reality of what is being discussed, or at least not being understood by the Iranians. I mean, this idea of who controls the state of Hormuz is the same problem that led to the breakdown of the memorandum of understanding signed back in June. And I was talking with just in long director of defense and foreign policy at the Kato Institute, a libertarian

nonpartisan think tank, and he pointed to the breakdown over one single paragraph, paragraph five, and that's still being the issue today. It's a bit like the unstoppable force that meets the movable object. I mean, neither country's public position at least has changed significantly,

and that was what caused the memorandum of understanding to implode in the first place.

I mean, paragraph five said that, quote, Iran will make arrangements and use its best efforts to facilitate traffic. Now, Ron interpreted that as they would be in charge of the waterway, but the U.S. interpreted it differently as that things would go back to the status quo. But today, based on their competing statements, it just seems that little has changed. Yeah, so I mean, why does this keep happening? Well, I mean, the President is under a great

deal of pressure to get out of this war, to reopen the straight, to get a handle on energy prices,

which were only a few months away. But he's also clearly looking down the road to what will be

“written about him in history books. Now, that's like exciting former President Herbert Hoover,”

when he saw the memorandum of understanding in June. Yeah, exactly. I mean, he mentioned that time Hoover a few times when signing the MOU really out of concern for the economy. He mentioned not wanting to be compared to Hoover, who's known for not doing enough to stop the great depression. I mean, Trump's thrown so much military power at the Iranians to try to get them to comply with his demands, but they're just not caving. And instead, they, the Iranians are making so many

demands of their own, especially about controlling the straight, hence this stalemate. And that

is leading to concerns from observers, like long, who worry that ultimately, to get out of this

war, the U.S. is going to have to accept something that is worse than the status quo, which was the straight of Hormuz free of movement. Now, right now, negotiations are focused on reopening the straight, and not just as an example, nuclear weapons, which was what Trump continues to

“say was the reason for going to war in the first place. Yeah, that's the only thing that the”

President has been defensive about. What do you make a Trump's pushback on reporting that the RME is running low on munitions? Yeah, I spoke about this with Long as well, and he said that

the President is basically trying to deny the math. Long said there's no question that the U.S. has

gone through a huge proportion of its patriot missile interceptors and other munitions over five months of war. And he added that the U.S. is known for launching a huge amount of firepower against an enemy in order to insulate the U.S. as well as regional parties from retaliation. And that's part of the reason Gulf allies are now wary of this war restarting again, because the last go-round was so tough. And now, they feel that they will be even less protected by American

missile defense systems. That's White House correspondent, Franco, or Donas, Franco, thanks a lot.

Thanks. And that's up first for Friday, August 7th, amir Tides.

And I'm Leila Faldel. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Emma Bowman, Kate Bartlett, Rebecca Mathsler, H.J. Mai, and Alice Wolfleet. It was produced by Ziyad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Ben Abrams. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Heines. Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our executive producer is Jay Shailer, Join us again on Monday.

This week on the NPR Politics podcast, another progressive Democrat, Edges Out, and Establishment Candidate. Abdul Elsayed, one Michigan Senate primary, campaigning on affordability, health care, and ending US military aid to Israel. Join us as we break down his victory and what it could signal for November's midterms on the NPR Politics podcast. Listen, on the NPR app, or wherever you get podcasts. While it seems like everything is being called a recession indicator these days.

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