Although popular with his political base, President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship has sparked confusion and nationwide legal challenges. The order, signed hours after Trump’s second inauguration started Jan. 20, aims to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. in cases in which neither parent is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

A Seattle federal judge on Jan. 23 temporarily blocked the order’s execution, describing it as “blatantly unconstitutional.”

But that didn’t come before viral posts claimed the order will strip U.S. citizenship from millions of people, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Trump’s birthright citizenship EO includes a Kamala Harris clause, specifically designed to deny the legitimacy of her US citizenship as the child of someone with a temporary status,” a Jan. 20 Threads post said. “This order jeopardizes the citizenship of millions.”

The post included a screenshot of a portion of the order that explained the directive applies to the children of people who are living in the U.S. without proper documentation and people who are in the U.S. lawfully but admitted temporarily, such as students and people on temporary work visas.

The Threads post was 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, Threads and Instagram.)

People commenting on the post indicated they believed the order could take away Harris’ citizenship status. But Trump’s order, should it be enforced, would not apply to Harris because the order isn’t retroactive.

The U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment established birthright citizenship and several Supreme Court decisions have affirmed that all people born on U.S. soil automatically become U.S. citizens. Trump’s order seeks to change that.

Harris was born in October 1964 to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. In her 2019 autobiography, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” Harris recounted that her parents came to the U.S. to study at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Her father, Donald Harris, came to study economics and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan came for a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology. Harris said they met at Berkeley and had Kamala and her younger sister, Maya.

When Kamala Harris was born, her mother was not a citizen, according to a 1965 temporary work visa approval the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published. It is unclear whatDonald Harris’ citizenship or residency status were when Kamala Harris was born. But Kamala Harris’ birth certificate shows she was born in Oakland, California, and as such automatically became a citizen of the United States.

If both Harris’ parents were still on temporary visas and Trump’s order came 60 years ago, perhaps Harris’ citizenship would be in question. 

The policy “shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order,” it said. If executed, the order is to take effect Feb. 19.

We rated a similar claim about Usha Vance’s citizenship being revoked by Trump’s order False. Vance was born in the U.S. to Indian parents who came to the U.S. as students. Although no one knows what the parents’ statuses were when the second lady was born, the order doesn’t apply to her because it is not retroactive.

On the same grounds, we rate the claim that Trump’s executive order would change Harris’ citizenship status False.

CORRECTION, Jan. 24, 2025: We have updated the statement being rated in this fact-check to better capture the misleading element of this claim.