I'm asian-american myself and I was interviewed by other asians who I had trouble understanding despite being brought up around my own family's accent. I wasn't using "american" to represent race or citizenship.

I didn't see think of them as american because we clearly did not share anything in common and had trouble communicating with each other.

Side note: My grandmother is a US citizen, but she only knows how to say "Hello" and "thank you" in english. Bringing in citizenship feels disingenuous.

EDIT: Citizenship comment is regarding this conversation and not the article itself. Sorry if it seemed like an attack.