Views from the Edge

Wong Kim Ark must be turning over in his grave.

Donald Trump on Monday (Oct. 29) announced that he wants to make birthright citizenship illegal.

In brief, birthright citizenship, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, says that if a person is born in the United States, that person automatically is considered a legal citizen of the U.S.

“The president cannot erase the Constitution with an executive order, and the 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee is clear,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “This is a transparent and blatantly unconstitutional attempt to sow division and fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms.”

“Not only is (Trump’s proposal) unconstitutional, it is un-American and unapologetically a scare tactic a week before the elections. We are not fooled,” said Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Executive Director, Alvina Yeh. “We will continue defending the 14th Amendment as the Supreme Court did in 1898, when White nationalists tried to revoke 14th amendment rights for Chinese people.”

Prior to 1898, birthright citizenship, embedded in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, was applied to those of European descent.

Wong’s case was the first instance when it was applied to an Asian American. It became the law of the land in the case involving Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco and whose parents were non-citizens living and working in the U.S.

At the age of 18 he visited China, the land of his parents, and upon his return was refused entrance because officials said he was not a U.S. citizen.

Wong was forced to wait on a ship in San Francisco harbor for months as his attorney pursued his case for citizenship. He was a test case, selected by the Department of Justice in an attempt to prove that people of Chinese descent weren’t citizens.

His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled on behalf of the Chinese American in 1898. “The Fourteenth] Amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born, within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States,” wrote associate justice Horace Gray in the precedent-setting opinion.

“The Constitution’s meaning could not be more clear. And the Supreme Court has agreed, ruling multiple times to uphold birthright citizenship,” said Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, who is chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, made up of AAPI senators and House members and those whose districts have AAPI communities.

Trump says he can change the Constitution through executive order. Most legal scholars disagree. There is a long and complicated process for changing the U.S. Constitution and it doesn’t involve presidential decrees.

Trump hopes to stem the practices that gives preferences to the relatives of U.S. citizens, a process employed by legal citizens to bring over family members, including children and parents.

“Trump’s action isn’t about what’s good or moral or legal or even effective. It’s just President Trump’s latest attempt to fuel anger in order to win votes. I can imagine no lower aspiration in government,” said Chu. “What he wants is a debate on who does and does not belong here, because he knows xenophobia helps him win elections. But xenophobia also creates tension and increases the risk of violence.”

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