The legal struggles of Punjabi pioneers in America represent a crucial chapter in civil rights history, as they challenged discriminatory laws through courts, lobbying, and grassroots activism. These battles, though often unsuccessful initially, laid groundwork for eventual changes in immigration and citizenship laws.

The most significant legal challenge was United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), where an Indian World War I veteran argued for citizenship rights. Despite anthropological evidence that Indians were Caucasian, the Supreme Court ruled that they were not "white" in common understanding and therefore ineligible for citizenship. This decision led to the denaturalization of Indians who had previously obtained citizenship.

Earlier cases like In re Sadar Bhagwab Singh (1917) and In re Mohan Singh (1919) had similarly tested citizenship eligibility, with courts issuing contradictory rulings that reflected the arbitrary nature of racial classifications. These cases exposed the pseudoscientific basis of race-based exclusion.

The Alien Land Laws, enacted in California (1913) and other states, prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from owning land. Punjabi farmers challenged these laws through various strategies: forming corporations, using American citizens as trustees, or purchasing land in their American-born children's names. Some cases, like Terrace v. Thompson (1923), reached the Supreme Court but upheld the discriminatory laws.

Punjabi activists also engaged in political lobbying, working with sympathetic legislators and forming organizations like the India League of America to advocate for immigration reform and citizenship rights. Dalip Singh Saund, who later became the first Asian American Congressman, led efforts to passage of the Luce-Celler Act of 1946.

These legal battles, while highlighting the community's vulnerability to institutional racism, also demonstrated remarkable resilience and commitment to justice. They contributed to the gradual dismantling of racial barriers in American immigration law, culminating in the 1965 Immigration Act that finally ended racial quotas.