This 14th Amendment, it is a sacred passage—from a sacred text. And it holds an almost holy reference to America’s foundation—and our future.

That fight carried on as Chinese immigrants built their lives here. As America expanded its territory to Puerto Rico, Samoa, and the Philippines for a time. When Japanese citizens were forced into interment camps. And as immigration expanded from South Asian and Latin American countries.

Men and women, many of whom were slaves, fought and died for that right. Not just for themselves, but for their descendants and future generations of Americans.

I sometimes wonder if my soldiers got that message. Or if I should’ve been more explicit in that lesson…