PIVOT Statement: From Refugees to Citizens - Why Birthright Citizenship Matters to Vietnamese Americans
/May 15, 2025
One of the earliest acts of the Trump administration was restricting birthright citizenship through an executive order. If the order is upheld, it will deny American citizenship to children born to mothers who are in the U.S. on temporary status or without legal status. VietFactCheck has published an explainer on the details and history of birthright citizenship.
This radical act seeks to distort the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which was established to extend citizenship to formerly enslaved African Americans and all children born in the U.S., regardless of their parents' immigration status. The use of contemporary immigration terminology to restrict birthright citizenship is a clumsy legal sleight of hand and is currently blocked by multiple injunctions from federal courts. However, the Supreme Court has not yet rejected the motions filed by the Trump administration and will be hearing arguments in May, suggesting that the Court may believe these arguments have some merit.
We at PIVOT believe that this attack on birthright citizenship is part of a broader assault on the meaning of America, perpetrated by those who reject the vision of the U.S. as a nation of immigrants and refugees. This is not an isolated legal issue, but a broad campaign to erode the legal foundation that helped create a welcoming, compassionate, and forward-looking country. The spirit of America is captured in the simple words at the base of the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." These words, written by an American Jewish poet on a statue donated by the French government, reflect how the world understands America because it is how we have long seen ourselves.
Fifty years ago, the first wave of Vietnamese refugees arrived in America as stateless, displaced people making their way in a new land. Among the critical supports that enabled our community's success was birthright citizenship. The simplicity of its words—that all persons born in the United States are citizens of the United States—ensured there would be no caste of Americans. Whatever the status of our parents and grandparents, those of us born in this country became full-fledged American citizens, benefiting from all the advantages of that privilege.
The alternative to birthright citizenship is a divided America where a large number of people born in this country would live in perpetual fear of racial profiling, arbitrary detentions, and heart-wrenching family separations. More people would face the threat of raids in places once considered sanctuaries—schools, hospitals, and houses of worship. Everyone, including those with citizenship, would live in a society of increased suspicion and surveillance. As Vietnamese Americans, we recognize these dangers, having seen the rights violations that affect many of our community members—non-citizens and citizens alike. Even now, the legal foundation that protects immigrants is already eroding, as seen in the cases of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who has been erroneously deported and held in El Salvador without charges, and Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk, legal U.S. residents arrested and facing deportation for expressing opinions that displease those currently in power.
As one of the youngest American communities, we Vietnamese Americans understand intimately the value of birthright citizenship because we recognize the protection it provides and have witnessed its transformative power in our own families and communities. This fundamental right has allowed generations of Vietnamese Americans born on U.S. soil to fully embrace the promise of opportunity, equality, and freedom.
We call upon our community to rally in defense of this cornerstone of American identity. Our lived experience powerfully reminds us that defending birthright citizenship means defending the very idea of America itself.