How Wong Kim Ark’s legacy reignited the fight for birthright citizenship

Sandra Wong grew up with limited knowledge of her family's historical significance until discovering at her father's funeral in 2011 that her great-grandfather had fought an important legal battle. The revelation remained largely dormant in her life as she focused on raising two children, caring for her mother, and working part-time. The trajectory changed when Donald Trump began his presidential campaign in 2015 and announced plans to repeal birthright citizenship, a constitutional right established under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Wong Kim Ark, Sandra's great-grandfather, became the central figure in a landmark 1898 Supreme Court case that established the principle of birthright citizenship. Born in 1873 to Chinese immigrant parents in San Francisco during a period of intense anti-Chinese sentiment, Wong's case tested the limits of the Fourteenth Amendment, which had been ratified after the Civil War to guarantee citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. The amendment was originally designed to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that had denied citizenship to Black people.

Trump's campaign to eliminate birthright citizenship has thrust Sandra and her siblings into the national spotlight as defenders of their family's legacy. In June, the Supreme Court upheld the precedent established by Wong's case, citing it more than 100 times in its decision. However, Trump has pledged to continue fighting the constitutional right, calling on Congress to amend the Constitution and recently asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling. Sandra described the sudden prominence as strange, noting that her family had not fully processed the historical information before becoming public ambassadors for their ancestor's legacy.