January 21, 2025
The Stop AAPI Hate coalition joins widespread demand for Congress to protect Constitutional right to citizenship for all those born in the U.S.
NATIONWIDE — Stop AAPI Hate issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s recent anti-immigrant executive orders. The quote below can be attributed to Manjusha Kulkarni, Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate and Co-Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance:
“We are outraged by the slew of anti-immigrant executive orders Trump has issued within the past 24 hours, including an unprecedented attack on birthright citizenship that will impact Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for generations. By assaulting one of our most fundamental Constitutional rights on day one, the Trump administration is sending the world a clear signal that they will stop at nothing to change America — a nation built on shared values of freedom, equality, and opportunity for all — into a nation that is hostile to anyone and everyone who isn’t like him and his billionaire backers.
“Trump’s executive order would not only deny citizenship to babies born in the U.S. — it will also lead to discrimination against children based on their parents’ immigration status. Countless children will not be able to access school lunch programs, affordable healthcare, federal student aid, and other essential services that citizenship would grant them. Further, this will fuel hate and racial profiling against AAPI children and families regardless of citizenship status.
“Trump’s first actions as President show that he is wholly committed to dehumanizing immigrants and fueling lies that stoke xenophobia, hate, and racism. He and his far-right loyalists are wasting no time doing what they set out to do: turn everyday people against each other so they can distract us from their greed and control. Divide and control tactics have been used throughout history by leaders who will falsely blame entire groups of people for problems instead of solving them. They have systematically scapegoated AAPI communities time and time again for national security, economic, and public health issues — most recently for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But our communities have proven over and over that we can fight back in defense of our rights and our humanity. In fact, it was an Asian American, Wong Kim Ark, whose 1898 Supreme Court case affirmed that every child born in the U.S. has the Constitutional right to citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Today, birthright citizenship continues to be one of the most common pathways for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to establish roots and build thriving futures in America.
“Wong Kim Ark’s story reminds us that citizenship and immigration restrictions have been used to uphold systemic racism for centuries. The Supreme Court’s “Insular Cases” of the early 1900s still, to this day, deny the right to full citizenship for 3.5 million residents of territories governed by the U.S., including Pacific Islanders in places like Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Asian communities have been targeted under the Naturalization Act of 1790, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Supreme Court’s 1923 ruling in US v. Bhagat Singh Thind, and the Asiatic Barred Zone Act of 1917 — all of which specifically banned Asian people from either immigrating to the U.S. or gaining citizenship.
“Much like today, political elites back then unfairly framed Asian people as ‘the enemy’ and dehumanized us to justify their discrimination and hate. And when the government used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to incarcerate over 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII, including many U.S. citizens, we learned that anti-Asian racism can run so deep that even citizenship can’t safeguard us completely. That’s why Trump’s anti-immigrant executive orders should concern us all, and another reason why we’re also staunchly opposed to the inhumane mass deportation plans his administration is trying to justify with the disgraced Alien Enemies Act.
“We cannot downplay the fact that Trump, his far-right loyalists, and his billionaire backers are on a path to effectively end immigration and turn America into a far-right authoritarian country where whiteness and wealth determine who belongs, who has rights, and who has a future in this nation. And we cannot remain silent as they once again rig the rules to divide us while they hoard more power.
“As we stand in solidarity with all communities under attack by Trump, we call on Congress to oppose his unconstitutional assault on birthright citizenship. Our country can and must be better than this by upholding the protections that affirm the humanity and dignity of all people.”
