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ExclusiveUS lawmaker Ro Khanna defends calling witness ‘racist’ in explosive China committee clash

Californian congressman says ‘denaturalise’ comments by Michael Lucci, founder of State Armor, are ‘absurd’

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US Congressman Ro Khanna says “if you’re born in the United States, you can’t be denaturalised” in response to comments by Michael Lucci. Photo: Getty Images/TNS
Nayan Sethin Washington
Ro Khanna, the ranking member of the US House Select Committee on China, has defended calling a witness “racist” during testimony last week over comments on Chinese-Americans who obtain US citizenship through birthright.
The heated exchange took place during a June 25 hearing on economic espionage and subnational influence, where Khanna confronted Michael Lucci, founder of the Texas-based State Armor non-profit organisation, over a controversial social media post published in April.
In the post, Lucci referenced two Chinese-Americans – one linked by authorities to an alleged attempted bombing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and the other suspected of being an accessory. He argued that the accused pair had obtained US citizenship through birthright citizenship and said they were “not loyal to the USA”.
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Expanding beyond that case, Lucci said about 1.5 million people were “essentially born in Saipan and raised in Communist China” through birth tourism.

“Denaturalise them all,” he said.

Speaking on Monday on the sidelines of a think tank event in Washington, Khanna, the Democratic representative from California, told the South China Morning Post: “It’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.”

Khanna said there was “no thin line” between criticising the actions of China’s Communist Party and targeting Chinese-Americans.

“If you’re born in the United States, you can’t be denaturalised. You can’t just say, ‘OK, if you’re Chinese-American, we’re going to start denaturalising you’. It was a terrible, terrible comment,” he said.

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