CELEBRATING THE VICTORY OF WONG KIM ARK

On 2026-05-21, Representative Jonathan L. Jackson (D-IL-1) delivered a floor speech titled "CELEBRATING THE VICTORY OF WONG KIM ARK" in the House.

CELEBRATING THE VICTORY OF WONG KIM ARK

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 87 (Thursday, May 21, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 87 (Thursday, May 21, 2026)] [House] [Pages H3715-H3716] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] CELEBRATING THE VICTORY OF WONG KIM ARK (Mr. JACKSON of Illinois asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today during Asian American History Month to honor the enduring constitutional victory of the United [[Page H3716]] States v. Wong Kim Ark, a case born not in marble hallways but on the docks of San Francisco where a young Chinese-American man born on American soil was told that the country of his birth would not claim him. Wong Kim Ark stood at the crossroads of exclusion and equality. His parents could not become citizens because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, yet he carried within him his very birth the promise of the 14th Amendment passed in 1868 that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens. The Supreme Court affirmed that promise in 1898, declaring that citizenship could not be denied by race, ancestry, or the prejudice of the hour. This case matters not only to Asian-American history but to American history. The 14th Amendment was written from the ashes of Dred Scott to make clear that no government could again trade a cast of people born here but belonging nowhere. Wong Kim Ark reminds us that citizenship is not a favor. It is not a privilege reserved for the powerful. It is a constitutional birthright, and when America honors that truth, America honors its highest self. ____________________