ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order denying what's called birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents here without legal status. More than 20 states have sued the Trump administration in response. They contend his action disregards more than 125 years of legal precedent, which has guaranteed that a person born in the U.S. is automatically a citizen. And a federal judge has already blocked President Trump's order.
NPR's Throughline hosts and producers, Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, tell us the story of how birthright citizenship began in 1898 with the Supreme Court case, U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark. It was a case that would change the path of American immigration law and play a pivotal role in the ongoing battle over who gets to be a citizen of the United States.
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RUND ABDELFATAH, BYLINE: It all began when Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco-born cook, tried to return to California after visiting China, his parents' homeland.
AMANDA FROST: I think when he saw San Francisco Bay emerge out of what was likely the foggy morning...
ABDELFATAH: This is Amanda Frost, professor of immigration law, and author of "You Are Not American: Citizenship Stripping From Dred Scott To The Dreamers."
FROST: ...He must have been thrilled to think, I'm finally back home, and I can get off this boat and go back to my home in San Francisco.
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ABDELFATAH: But that's not what would happen. To Wong Kim Ark's surprise, a U.S. customs agent declared that he was not allowed to get off the ship and set foot onto U.S. soil.
FROST: At this point, the Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect. And so if you were a Chinese laborer, you were not allowed to enter.
ABDELFATAH: Wong Kim Ark argued with the customs official.
FROST: He said, yes, I'm a laborer - I'm a chef - but I'm a citizen and here's the proof. He had his certificates. He knew that he was born in the United States and that meant he was a U.S. citizen.
ABDELFATAH: But...
FROST: Unbeknownst to Wong, while he was in China, the U.S. government had decided it wanted to bring a test case challenging birthright citizenship...
ABDELFATAH: Birthright citizenship.
FROST: ...Particularly for the children of Chinese immigrants.
ABDELFATAH: Wong Kim Ark was born in the U.S., but his parents were not.
FROST: So they chose him, and they didn't let him get off that boat.
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ABDELFATAH: And his case made its way from a California district court all the way up to the Supreme Court. The entire case rested on the interpretation of a single sentence in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, an amendment added after the Civil War to guarantee newly emancipated Black Americans equal citizenship and protection under U.S. laws.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Reading) 14th Amendment, Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Reading) ...And subject to the jurisdiction thereof...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Reading) ...Jurisdiction thereof...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Reading) ...Are citizens of the United States....
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Reading) ...And of the state...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Reading) ...Wherein they reside.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Reading) ...And of the state wherein they reside.
ABDELFATAH: That phrase, jurisdiction thereof, it is key because the court had to decide what makes a person a U.S. citizen. Do all people born on U.S. soil fall under its jurisdiction, it's laws? Or is jurisdiction about where your loyalties lie? So on March 5, 1897, the Supreme Court case of United States vs. Wong Kim Ark began.
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ABDELFATAH: The lawyer for the U.S. government argued...
FROST: Well, Wong Kim Ark, sure he was born in the United States - we can't refute that - but we do not think he was subject to the jurisdiction of the United States because his parents were loyal to the Emperor of China and so was their son by automatic transmission. And so that means the son cannot automatically acquire citizenship based on birth.
RAMTIN ARABLOUEI, BYLINE: But then he made a bigger, bolder claim.
FROST: That the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is itself unconstitutional. And his reason for that was he said the South was coerced into ratifying the 14th Amendment in 1868, and therefore, it was never validly a part of the Constitution. And we can see in that argument, of course, that he's trying to litigate the Civil War. He's trying to say the Reconstruction Amendment should not be law. We should turn back the clock.
And in fact, the lawyers for Wong Kim Ark call him on that. And they say in their brief, this nation spilled so much blood to fight for the end of slavery and to establish the 13th and 14th and 15th Amendments and change our nation and change our Constitution. And you should not accept the argument that these amendments are invalid.
ARABLOUEI: The government made its argument. Then it was Wong Kim Ark's lawyers' chance to counter.
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JULIE NOVKOV: Well, in very simple terms, Wong Kim Ark's lawyers have two main claims.
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ARABLOUEI: Julie Novkov is a co-author of "American By Birth: Wong Kim Ark And The Battle For Citizenship."
NOVKOV: One is that this principle of birthright citizenship is a long-standing principle in common law - not just American common law, but English common law.
ARABLOUEI: Their second claim is that this common law principle was adopted in the 14th Amendment.
NOVKOV: And therefore, if you look at the history of this principle, if you look at how it has played out over time, there's plenty of grounding there to support the idea that the descendants of Chinese born in the United States are entitled to birthright citizenship.
FROST: They were brilliant lawyers, and they told the Supreme Court, if you rule for the government that the children of immigrants are not citizens, you will take away citizenship from hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people, including lots of white people.
ABDELFATAH: Millions of immigrants from Europe and around the world had moved to the U.S. in the 1800s. So the Supreme Court was suddenly having to address a fundamental issue, one that would have ripple effects beyond the children of Chinese immigrants like Wong Kim Ark.
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ARABLOUEI: It took over a year, but finally, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (As Justice Horace Gray) The fact, therefore, that acts of Congress or treaties have not permitted Chinese persons born out of this country to become citizens by naturalization cannot exclude Chinese persons born in this country from the operation of the broad and clear words of the Constitution. All persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States - Justice Gray.
ARABLOUEI: Wong Kim Ark had won his case. He was recognized by the U.S. government as a birthright citizen - a ruling that his lawyers knew would have an impact on generations to come. And Wong Kim Ark could finally go back to his life in San Francisco.
SHAPIRO: That was Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah, hosts and producers of NPR's history show, Throughline. You can hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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