Sandra and Norman Wong are on a lifelong quest to learn more about their forefather whose legal case inspired birthright citizenship in the U.S.
But the siblings know this much: President Donald Trump’s attempt to repeal the right 130 years after Wong Kim Ark’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit is nothing short of disturbing.
“It’s not right to instill fear into people,” Sandra told The Standard at a press conference Friday in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where her ancestor was born. “I felt like it was important to come here to support this and stand in solidarity.”
Wong Kim Ark’s 1895 lawsuit is back in the spotlight after Trump signed an executive order that bans children born to undocumented immigrants or parents on temporary visas from receiving citizenship. The mandate triggered widespread legal challenges and brought renewed attention to Wong Kim Ark’s case, which affirmed that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States.
The Wong siblings, born in San Francisco, still live in the Bay Area. Friday’s event was held at the headquarters of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, which raised funds for Wong Kim Ark’s case.
Sandra lives in the North Bay, and Norman is in the East Bay. Their father is either the son or the grandson of Wong Kim Ark; they’re uncertain because discriminatory laws at the time made immigration paperwork for Chinese nationals unreliable.
Sandra said she didn’t learn of her family’s history until her father’s funeral; it wasn’t mentioned as she was growing up. Reporters and civil rights groups eventually started to ask the family about the case.
Norman said his father was a China-born restaurant worker who served in the U.S. Navy. He is considering contacting officials in China or returning to the village in Guangdong, where Wong Kim Ark was born, to find out more.
In recent days, Norman has been speaking up against Trump to the media, but Friday he was more focused on calling for unity in a divisive political climate.
“We’re all Americans,” he said. “When we call ourselves Americans, we’re agreeing to all be of one.”
A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, but the White House has vowed to appeal the decision. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, who hosted Friday’s event, has joined the lawsuit.
“We had to act to bring our city as the first local jurisdiction into this fight,” Chiu said. “It was important for San Francisco to be part of this lawsuit.”
Chiu expects the case to go to the Supreme Court again. He said he’s determined to fight.
“On Inauguration Day, I asked myself if we would be ready to sue during his first 24 hours in office,” Chiu said of the new president. “The answer was yes. I asked myself, ‘What would Wong Kim Ark have done?’”