Amerasians from Vietnam seek US citizenship

The Los Angeles Times has an article on the Amerasian children of US military personnel during the Vietnam War seeking US citizenship. What should happen with the offspring of Americans left behind in the aftermath of the Korean War was once an important issue in South Korea as well. 

These Amerasians (I never liked that word) insist that because one of their parents—almost always the father—is an American citizen, then that same citizenship is their birthright.

Tran came to Washington on behalf of abandoned children of American soldiers and Vietnamese women, born during the Vietnam War and, like him, seeking citizenship in the country their fathers fought for.

Called Amerasians, many were left to grow up in the rough streets and rural rice fields of Vietnam where they stood out, looked different, were taunted as "dust of life." Most were brought to the United States 20 years ago after Congress passed the Amerasian Homecoming Act, which allowed the children of American soldiers living in Vietnam to immigrate. But citizenship was not guaranteed, and today about half of the estimated 25,000 Amerasians living in the U.S. are resident aliens.

Read the rest on your own.