From the moment they set foot in America in the late 18th century, Asian immigrants were cast as perpetual outsiders – “aliens ineligible for citizenship” – barred from the very freedoms and democratic ideals the nation claimed to uphold. Exclusion wasn’t just a policy; it was a defining principle of how Asian Americans were seen and treated, shaping their political agency from the outset. Yet, in 1898, a landmark Supreme Court case disrupted this entrenched narrative, forcing the country to confront its contradictions and positioning Asian Americans at the heart of an ongoing reckoning over race, ethnicity, citizenship and broader nationwide ideals of belonging.
In United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), the Supreme Court ruled that Wong Kim, a Chinese American born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrant parents, was a U.S. citizen according to protections provided by the Fourteenth Amendment. His case redefined and galvanized a comprehensive fight for birthright citizenship. This movement was spearheaded by people of color and continues today. The decision proved that Asian Americans were not just subject to American law but active challengers of its racialized exclusions.
Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco in 1873 during a period of intense anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S. His childhood was shaped by systematic racism, legitimized by the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which severely halted immigration from China and barred current Chinese in America from citizenship. Despite being born on American soil, Wong, as all Asian Americans were at the time, was treated as an outsider simply because of his ethnic heritage. In 1895, after traveling to China for a visit, he was denied reentry upon his return to San Francisco. Immigration officials argued that because his parents were Chinese nationals and ineligible for U.S. citizenship under the Chinese Exclusion Act, Wong Kim Ark himself could not be considered an American citizen. Holmes Conrad, the US Solicitor General who appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court, asserted this on the basis of the fact that Wong’s parents were “Chinese persons, and subject to the emperor of China,” thus making Wong the same through familial extension.
Rather than accepting this arbitrary exclusion, Wong took his fight to the courts. His case challenged the government’s attempt to deny birthright citizenship to people of Asian descent, putting the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause to the test. The Supreme Court’s 6-2 ruling in his favor affirmed that anyone born on U.S. soil – regardless of race or ancestry – was a citizen. This decision not only secured Wong’s own right to citizenship but also set a legal precedent that would protect the future of children of immigrants.
Wong Kim Ark’s case underscores the resilience of Asian Americans in the face of institutionalized, state-sanctioned discrimination. By turning to the courts, Wong strategically used a system that sought to marginalize him to his and the AAPI community’s advantage. His victory was a pivotal moment in the ongoing struggle for immigrant justice in the U.S., forcing the nation to confront the contradictions between its democratic ideals and its deeply ingrained racial hierarchies.
However, more than a century later, the fight over birthright citizenship is far from settled. Today, as newly reinstated President Trump seeks to unravel these hard-won rights, the very legal precedent that once safeguarded Wong’s citizenship is being put to the test once again. In a recent executive order, Trump has threatened to dismantle the very principles established in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, pushing a xenophobic agenda that sought to strip citizenship from children of undocumented immigrants. His proposed policies disproportionately target Latine communities and simply uphold a narrative of fascist policies designed to quash uninformed fear and uncertainty about the economy. In reality, this narrative that posits that “unlawful, illegal immigrants” are stealing our jobs is entirely wrong: Immigrants are a vital component of the U.S. workforce. Without immigrants, many economic sectors would struggle. In fact, statistics have proven time and time again that the immigrant population in America has contributed to an increased GDP, better wages and work opportunities for U.S.-born workers.
Currently, Trump is essentially striving to redefine judicial interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment by arguing that birthright citizenship is only awarded to children of legal citizens. His order seeks to manipulate Fourteenth Amendment protections to advance a nationalist agenda rooted in racial discrimination and economic scapegoating, falling in line with broader historical patterns of the U.S. government to retrench rights and liberties previously granted to communities of color.
Many have publicly renounced his undertaking to revoke birthright citizenship rights for immigrant children as unconstitutional and an “attempt to undo the Civil War.” Political scholars and Black communities alike sense the threat of historical regression in such proposals, viewing them as an affront to the constitutional principles established in the wake of the Civil War. The Fourteenth Amendment was specifically designed in 1868 – only three years following the abolition of slavery – to ensure equal protection under the law and to grant citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil, particularly addressing the legal status of formerly enslaved individuals. Efforts to undermine birthright citizenship, therefore, are seen not only as an attack on immigrant communities but also as an attempt to erode the hard-fought gains of Reconstruction and ensuing Civil Rights Movements.
While a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order on Jan. 23, 2025 for 14 days, a very real and valid flurry of terror and trepidation among immigrant communities across the U.S. remains as families grapple with uncertainty about their futures. The legal battle is far from over, and the temporary injunction serves as only a brief respite in what is shaping up to be a prolonged and deeply consequential fight over the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment. Advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and National Immigrant Justice Center, have mobilized in response. Such organizations provide legal assistance and organize emergency support networks as protests continue to erupt in major cities, demanding a permanent injunction against the order, an end to inhumane deportation and protections for immigrants.
The intensifying legal and sociopolitical battle over Trump’s xenophobic executive order is a stark reminder that the fight over birthright citizenship is far from settled. For the Asian American community, this struggle is particularly resonant, as their very place in the nation was historically contested through exclusionary laws and legal battles like United States v. Wong Kim Ark. The same racist and exclusionary logic that sought to deny Wong his rights in 1898 now fuels contemporary efforts to undermine the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections, threatening not only immigrant communities broadly but also Asian Americans’ legacy of legal activism and resistance against white supremacy.
Ultimately, United States v. Wong Kim Ark was never just about one man’s fight – it underscores the fundamental question of who gets to belong in America. The 1898 ruling should have settled this issue over a century ago, yet the same forces that sought to deny Wong his rights are still finding new ways to justify exclusion. Asian Americans – and all immigrant communities – cannot afford to be complacent. Today, Asian American activists, lawyers and organizers continue Wong’s legacy, standing alongside other marginalized communities in the fight against exclusionary policies. As students, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves on these legal and historical battles, challenge xenophobic narratives and actively support movements that defend immigrant rights. The fight to protect birthright citizenship is ongoing, and it is a fight that demands vigilance, resistance and an unrelenting commitment to the ideals that Wong Kim Ark fought for: that America belongs to those who build their lives here, not just to those whom power deems worthy.
Visual Credit: “Citizenship ceremony, 1960” by Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Comments are closed.