Family of Wong Kim Ark reacts to the end of birthright citizenship
SAN FRANCISCO (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - San Francisco, along with the state of California, and more than a dozen other states, including Arizona, are suing President Donald Trump over his executive order to end birthright citizenship.
That means right now, the story of Wong Kim Ark is more relevant than ever.
A Chinese man born in the city's Chinatown whose case would go on to set the precedent for who gets to be a U.S. citizen.
In San Francisco's Chinatown, there's a mural on Grant Avenue and Jackson Street. One of the faces is Wong Kim Ark.
He was born in the area of Sacramento and Kenny Streets in 1870 to a Chinese woman, but why there's a mural depicting him is one of American history.
"I'm glad he stood up a lot of people have feelings about stuff but they're not willing to stick their neck out he was willing to stick his neck out," Norman Wong, Ark's descendent.
In 1898, Ark successfully defended his claim he was a U.S. citizen in the Supreme Court.
Officials were denying Ark re-entry during a wave of anti-Asian sentiment in the country, saying his parents were Chinese nationals at the time of his birth, but they were in the U.S. legally.
So Ark's win reaffirmed the 14th Amendment that anyone born in the U.S. is automatically a citizen.
His story was thrust back into the national spotlight.
The 14th Amendment says all people born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States.
Anti-immigration advocates are pressing for another interpretation, saying Ark's story isn't the same, even though his family was here legally.
So now a battle in the courtroom is looming, because less than 24 hours after President Trump signed the order, 18 states are suing to stop him.
President Trump signed an order to limit the right to people who have at least one parent who is a United States citizen or permanent resident, including California.
"He has overreached by a mile in his case and so we're taking him to court. It is a fringe theory it should be rejected outright it is not the interpretation that the U.S. Supreme Court has given to the citizenship clause and specifically birthright citizenship," said Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California.
That couldn't ring more true for Ark's great-great grandson.
"We're back to square one...I think the whole notion. It's not what Trump is doing, it's what Americans are feeling...We're trying to blame our problems on them," Wong expressed.
