TAAF Statement on the Supreme Court’s Ruling in Birthright Citizenship Case

For more than a century, birthright citizenship has been a constitutional bedrock that has empowered generations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to build thriving communities and call this nation home. And the Supreme Court has long upheld the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, affirming in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that every child born on U.S. soil is rightfully an American citizen, regardless of their parents’ race, nationality, or immigration status.

Today’s decision by the Supreme Court in Trump v. CASA opens the door for challenges to this guarantee and lays the groundwork for a direct attack on the very principle that has allowed so many AAPI families and millions of others to belong in this country. The stakes could not be higher, and TAAF is actively monitoring the situation for potential further action.

From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II to the scapegoating of Asian Americans during COVID-19, our communities have long endured and resisted attempts to define us as outsiders. Efforts to dismantle the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship protections are part of a long and painful pattern of exclusion. TAAF will continue to stand with our partners to defend the fundamental right of every person to belong, to be recognized, and to flourish in the only country they’ve ever called home.