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President-elect Donald Trump talks with Vice President-elect JD Vance and Usha Vance before a service at St. John's Church, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration. (AP) President-elect Donald Trump talks with Vice President-elect JD Vance and Usha Vance before a service at St. John's Church, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration. (AP)

President-elect Donald Trump talks with Vice President-elect JD Vance and Usha Vance before a service at St. John's Church, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration. (AP)

Sara Swann
By Sara Swann January 21, 2025

President Trump’s birthright citizenship order won’t revoke Usha Vance’s U.S. citizenship

If Your Time is short

  • President Donald Trump’s executive order seeks to end birthright citizenship for future children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally. It is set to take effect in February, unless legal challenges block it.

  • Second lady Usha Vance was born in the U.S. to parents who immigrated from India.

  • Vance’s U.S. citizenship status would not be revoked under Trump’s order because the order applies only to future children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

On his second term’s first day, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. Some social media users claimed this decision puts second lady Usha Vance’s citizenship status at risk.

A Jan. 20 Threads post read, "BREAKING - Vice President JD Vance’s wife will have her citizenship revoked if Trump signs his executive order banning birthright citizenship. Neither of her parents were US citizens at the time of her birth."

Other Threads users made similar claims. These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

But these posts misconstrue the scope of Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, which already faces legal challenges.

Birthright citizenship refers to people’s right to become U.S citizens if they’re born in the U.S., regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

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Trump’s executive order says the privilege of U.S. citizenship "does not automatically extend" to children born in the U.S. when the mother was "unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth" or when the "mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary."

It lists temporary statuses such as visiting the country on a visa waiver program or visiting on a student, work or tourist visa.

The order says it will apply in 30 days to children born under those circumstances.

Usha Vance was born in the U.S. after her parents immigrated from India in the late 1970s. Her father, Krish Chilukuri, is an engineering lecturer at San Diego State University. Her mother, Lakshmi Chilukuri, is a molecular biology teaching professor and provost of Sixth College at University of California, San Diego. 

We don’t know what their immigration statuses were when Usha was born in 1986, but Trump’s executive order won’t revoke Vance’s citizenship status. That’s because the order applies to future children born in the U.S. to parents in the country illegally. It doesn’t say that this directive will be applied retroactively.

The order says, "Nothing in this order shall be construed to affect the entitlement of other individuals, including children of lawful permanent residents, to obtain documentation of their United States citizenship."

Trump’s directive says agencies cannot issue documents recognizing citizenship or accept any governmental documents purporting to recognize citizenship for births in those cases. He told department leaders to issue public guidance within 30 days for the order's application.

The order faces legal challenges. On Jan. 20, immigrant and civil rights groups filed the first lawsuits against the order, just hours after Trump signed it.

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As Trump campaigned on this promise in 2024, legal experts told PolitiFact that attempts to end birthright citizenship would prompt a court battle over the long-standing interpretation of the 14th Amendment and could require a constitutional amendment.

The 14th Amendment says that "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."

PolitiFact contacted the Trump-Vance team, but received no response before publication.

Our ruling

A Threads post claimed Vance "will have her citizenship revoked if Trump signs his executive order banning birthright citizenship."

Trump’s executive order seeks to end birthright citizenship for future children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally. It is to take effect next month, unless legal challenges block it.

The order would not affect Vance’s U.S. citizenship status because it does not say it will be applied retroactively to people already born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

We rate this claim False.

Our Sources

Threads post, Jan. 20, 2025

Threads post, Jan. 20, 2025

Threads post, Jan. 20, 2025

The White House, "Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship," Jan. 20, 2025

PolitiFact, "MAGA-Meter: End birthright citizenship," Jan. 20, 2025

PolitiFact, "Trump-O-Meter: End birthright citizenship," July 15, 2020

Cornell Law School, 14th Amendment, accessed Jan. 21, 2025

Cornell Law School, 8 U.S. Code § 1401 - Nationals and citizens of United States at birth, accessed Jan. 21, 2025

PolitiFact, "Donald Trump is reiterating his promise to overturn birthright citizenship. Can he do it?," Dec. 10, 2024

PolitiFact, "Birthright citizenship: Could Ron DeSantis end it? And if so, how?," June 29, 2023

Reuters, "22 Democratic-led states sue over Trump's birthright citizenship order," Jan. 21, 2025

Reuters, "Indian family of Usha Vance, wife of Trump's VP pick, known for academic prowess," July 18, 2024

San Diego State University, Krish Chilukuri, accessed Jan. 21, 2025

University of California, San Diego, Lakshmi Chilukuri, accessed Jan. 21, 2025

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President Trump’s birthright citizenship order won’t revoke Usha Vance’s U.S. citizenship

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