From 22 Chinese women detained in 1874 for being ‘lewd and debauched’, experts point to a grim US tradition

One day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, five pregnant immigrant women – led by an asylum seeker from Venezuela – sued over the president’s executive order limiting automatic birthright citizenship, out of fear that their unborn children would be left stateless.

The case went before the supreme court, which sided with the Trump administration Friday by restricting the ability of federal judges to block the order.

The legal drama recalls a scene a century and a half earlier, when a different cohort of immigrant women went to the country’s highest court to challenge a restrictive California law. In 1874, San Francisco officials detained 22 Chinese women at the port after declaring them “lewd and debauched” – a condition that allowed for denial of entry.