Unless and until Congress acts through the “End Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act” or some other legislative vehicle, the Trump Executive Order does not change who federal law would recognize as U.S. citizens based on their birth in a U.S. territory. See more here.

However, its far-reaching language does raise other questions. It is possible the EO could be interpreted by federal agencies to limit the ability of American Samoan “non-citizen” U.S. nationals to be recognized as “U.S. citizens” through the naturalization process. The EO states:

“It is the policy of the United States that no executive department or agency shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship to … persons when neither parent of that person is a citizen and … the person is born in a territory or territorial waters of the United States where citizenship is not conferred by Federal statute.”

The plain language of the EO could be interpreted by federal agencies to mean that “non-citizen” nationals who complete the naturalization process might still not be recognized as U.S. citizens by federal officials required to follow this order. The EO does include boilerplate language stating “[t]his order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law,” but just how federal agencies will resolve this potential conflict between the language of the EO and federal statutory requirements that allow “non-citizen” U.S. nationals remains to be seen. Regardless, it highlights the reality that the ability of “non-citizen” U.S. nationals to naturalize at all is dependent upon decisions made by Congress and the President, and that historically there were periods of time when “non-citizen” U.S. nationals in American Samoa and the Philippines were prohibited from naturalizing to be recognized as U.S. citizens.