The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Wong Kim Ark and against the government. Wong was restored all his original rights including the right to live within the confines of the United States’ soil. This verdict set a precedent for many subsequent citizenship cases during the course of the American history. (Kuklin, 1717)
The Supreme Court jury passed 6-2 in favor of Wong Kim Ark. It asserted that Wong, having been born in the United States soil and his parents having permanent domicile and residence in the country is endowed with all the rights pertaining to a regular citizen, irrespective of the nationality and origin of his parents. It is important to note that the minority opinion was very vocal and explicit in expressing their point of view. It just goes to show the norms and conventions of the period. Wong Kim Ark will always remain a torch bearer for the citizenship rights of future generations of immigrants (Winer, p.420).
The history of Asian immigrants in America goes back to the middle of nineteenth century. The Asian immigrants were mainly of Chinese descent and were hired to work in the fields and factories of the American South. It is worthy of note that the Chinese community played a pivotal role in building the transport infrastructure of what was then a developing society. In spite of such vital contributions to the shaping of the American landscape, their legitimacy to citizenship will not come easily. As with all ethnic and racial minorities, the Asian Americans had endured and persisted in order to claim their citizenship (Rubenfeld, p.1156).
The majority Caucasians saw Asian workers as a threat to their livelihood and pressured the representatives in the Congress to make it illegal for Asians to enter and work in the United States. Such was the hostility that even some renowned leaders of the time such as Samuel Gompers joined the chorus of protest against the hard-working and earnest Asian workers. Rallies were organized with slogans like “The Chinese Must Go” making the rounds. This compelled the Congress to enact the Chinese Exclusion Act, which in hindsight seems outrageous. The Act would be extended later to encompass all Asians under the Asiatic Barred Zone. This effectively put an end to any hopes of attaining naturalized citizenship for Asians. The Asian community was done great injustice as a result of such policies (Winer, p.412).