Rep. Brian Babin announced a bill Tuesday to deny birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants, moving to add some legislative heft to President Trump’s new crusade.

The Texas Republican’s bill would lay out who, specifically, is granted birthright citizenship, limiting it to children of a U.S. citizen, a legal permanent resident or someone with a temporary nonimmigrant legal status serving active duty with the U.S. military.

That would leave out children born to illegal immigrants, tourists and short-term business visitors, guest workers and most others here on temporary passes.

“Citizenship is one of our nation’s most precious privileges. By introducing this legislation, we are taking an important step to restore integrity to our immigration system and prioritize the interests of American citizens,” Mr. Babin said.

For more than a century, most babies born on U.S. soil have automatically had citizenship.

Mr. Trump has long argued that’s a bad policy. During his first term he repeatedly threatened to try to change it but never pulled the trigger. That changed on Monday, the first day of his new term, when he issued an order limiting automatic citizenship.

He ordered his administration not to issue documents denoting citizenship, such as a Social Security number, in cases where the child was born to a mother here illegally, or here as a temporary visitor, and where the father is also not a citizen or legal resident.

“The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift,” Mr. Trump wrote in defending his changes.

His proposed changes kick in after 30 days and only affect future cases.

Multiple lawsuits have already been filed challenging Mr. Trump’s order.

At issue is what the Constitution’s 14th Amendment allows when it says: “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.”

Most legal scholars who have studied the issue say that guarantees nearly everyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen.

Some scholars, though, say there’s wiggle room inside the words “subject to the jurisdiction.” They argue that illegal immigrants and temporary visitors don’t meet that definition and can be denied automatic citizenship.

Beyond that, there’s a question of whether changes — if they’re allowed under the Constitution — can be made by executive action or need Congress.

Legal issues aside, the idea of changing citizenship rules is controversial with the public.

Polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs earlier this month found a majority of people opposed to amending the Constitution to end automatic citizenship. Just 28% were in support.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.