Keywords: immigration, undocumented workers, Amerasian, Amerasian Paternity Act, Amerasian Homecoming Act, Vietnam War, Korean War, biracial

Many children of American soldiers and Vietnamese women, born during the Vietnam War, were left to grow up in the rough streets and rural rice fields of Vietnam where they were outsiders because they looked different, reports the Los Angeles Times.

When Congress passed the Amerasian Homecoming Act 20 years ago, most of these biracial children were brought to the United States, but citizenship was not guaranteed. Today, about half of the estimated 25,000 Amerasians living in the country are undocumented residents, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"I feel like I belong nowhere," Randy Tran told the Los Angeles Times. His father was a Black-American soldier. "If I go to Little Saigon, they say, 'Are you Vietnamese? You look Black.' If I go to the American community, they say, 'You're not one of us. You're Vietnamese.'"

Tran and other Amerasians are trying to influence Congress to pass the Amerasian Paternity Act, which would give Amerasians born during the Vietnam and Korean wars automatic citizenship.

Click here to read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.