Born in Punjab, India in 1892, Bhagat Singh Thind immigrated to the United States in 1913. He was recruited by the U.S. Army in 1918 and served with distinction in World War I. Thind received his US citizenship on December 9, 1918, wearing military uniform as he was still serving in the United States Army. However, the Bureau of Naturalization revoked his citizenship on the basis that he was not “Caucasian.” The Supreme Court unanimously sided with the Bureau of Naturalization in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind and denied Thind’s citizenship on the basis of race. Thind petitioned for naturalization a third time through the state of New York in 1935 after the Congress passed the Nye-Lea Act, which made World War I veterans eligible for naturalization regardless of race. Based on his status as a veteran of the United States military during World War I, he was finally granted United States citizenship nearly two decades after he first petitioned for naturalization.

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