AAF Statement on Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship as a Constitutional Right

Virtually all children born in the United States are citizens at birth.

New York, NY — This morning, the Supreme Court ruled on birthright citizenship, upholding a principle that has been a cornerstone of American constitutional law for over 150 years. This ruling affirms what we at the Asian American Federation have always known to be true: birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution and attacks on it are attacks on the right of every American to belong.

Asian Americans have been at the forefront of this fight since the very beginning. In 1898, Wong Kim Ark, the son of Chinese immigrants, challenged the US government’s refusal to recognize his citizenship and brought his case all the way to the Supreme Court. His case became the landmark precedent that established birthright citizenship in the Fourteenth Amendment as we know it today.

Without Wong and many other Asian plaintiffs like Takao Ozawa and Bhagat Singh Thind who appealed before the Supreme Court, millions of Americans in the generation since would have been denied the right to be and become citizens and fully participate in American life.

As the nation’s fastest growing population, Asian Americans would have faced a disproportionate impact from any attempt to undermine birthright citizenship. Future generations could have lost not only citizenship but fundamental rights, the ability to vote, and the opportunity to build lives in America. The Asian American Federation is grateful to the multiracial coalitions of Asian, Latino, and Black civil rights organizations that fought to protect birthright citizenship and the democratic principles our country was founded on.