Immigrants’ Rights

Freedom to Dream: Rights of Immigrants

In decisions spanning more than a century, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution’s guarantees apply to every person within U.S. borders, including “aliens whose presence in this country is unlawful.” On the other hand, the Court has said that when the federal government uses its broad powers to supervise immigration into this country, it can exercise those powers in ways that discriminate on the basis of “alienage.” In other words, the government has the power to decide whom to let into the country and under what circumstances. But once here, even undocumented immigrants have the right to freedom of speech and religion, the right to be treated fairly, the right to privacy, and the other fundamental rights U.S. citizens enjoy.

Many of the civil liberties protections enshrined in our Bill of Rights and other Amendments to the U.S. Constitution extend to non-citizens. The following freedoms refer specifically to the protection of “people,” “persons,” and “the accused” – not just to citizens – as well as to “negative rights,” or those rights guaranteeing freedom from government abuse:

First Amendment (freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and the right to petition elected officials for redress of grievances);
Fourth Amendment (the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures);
Fifth Amendment (the rights in criminal proceedings to a grand jury; to be free from double jeopardy; not to testify against oneself; to due process; and to compensation for government takings of private property).
Sixth Amendment (the rights to a speedy and public trial; to be informed of the charges against you; to confront witnesses; to call your own witnesses; and to an attorney);
Eight Amendment (the right to be free from excessive bail and fines, and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment);
Ninth Amendment (affirming that the list of protected rights the Constitution expressly mentions is not an exhaustive list of those rights retained “by the people”);
Tenth Amendment (reserving to the States or to “the people” those powers that the Constitution did not delegate to the federal government or prohibit to the States).

The Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment also applies to “persons,” and not just citizens. Only those later Amendments extending the right to vote apply exclusively to "citizens." For example, the Fifteenth Amendment (right to vote regardless of race), the Nineteenth Amendment (right to vote regardless of gender), the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (right to vote regardless of inability to pay the poll tax) and the Twenty-Sixth Amendment (right to vote for all citizens over the age of eighteen).

Other Resources:

ACLU Civil Liberties Union of Delaware

Defending Individual Rights and Personal Freedom

Immigrants’ Rights