The Fight’s Not Over: One Family’s Battle to Keep Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.

Photo of Wong Kim Ark courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

There has been much in the news about the Supreme Court arguments yesterday in the case involving President Trump's efforts to end birthright citizenship by executive order.  Having though a lot about the case, this family story from Documented spoke to me about the human consequences of birthright citizenship.  It truly is worth reading!

In 1898 in the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court re-affirmed the longstanding rule that birth in the United States bestowed U.S. citizenship.  "Over a century after his great-grandfather Wong Kim Ark fought to establish birthright citizenship in the U.S., Norman Wong is picking up the torch to defend his family's legacy and the rights of all Americans.

Before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Norman Wong, a 75-year-old retiree living in Brentwood, California, spent most of his time at home, tending to his lilies, California golden poppies and succulents and watering his vegetables in his garden. Now, Wong is filling his days giving interviews, attending community events, and joining legal scholars and immigrant rights advocates in a fight to defend a constitutional right affecting all Americans."

Besides having a Chinese grandfather, Norman Wong has a Japanese American mother, whose family was interned during World War II.

“For me, my family history has been a wall, but now I’m realizing that it opened the door for millions of others who call this country home. Birthright citizenship has changed the face of America,” Wong said. His family, which now consists of a mix of Danish, German, English, Japanese, Chinese, and Mexican heritage, lives all across the U.S. “Attacks on the constitutional rights my predecessor fought for are only meant to divide us further in our already fractured world,” he added.

 

KJ