Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/07/11
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On 7/11/02 7:51 AM, "Jeffery Smith" <jls@runbox.com> wrote:
> If you are a legal resident here, the Bill of Rights should apply. If you
> are an illegal alien, then they don't.
This simply is not true. I know it's a commonly held belief, but it is not
true. I don't know the specifics of the situation you've described, but it
is very likely that the Haitians were apprehended before they reached the
U.S. This places them in a different situation.
I'm a deputy public defender in the San Joaquin Valley of California. My
office represents many, many agricultural workers who are in the U.S.
Illegally and are charged with criminal offenses. They have full
constitutional rights with regard to their criminal charges and are entitled
to full due process. They can, however, be eventually taken into I.N.S.
custody and subjected to deportation ("removal" the I.N.S. Now calls it),
but even that is a process in which they are not without rights.
With only a few very specifically draw exceptions (such as the ability to
run for President) the Constitution speaks in terms of "persons" not
"citizens" or "legal residents." The Bill of Rights applies equally to
citizens, non-citizens who are here legally, and non-citizens who are here
illegally. Legal and illegal non-citizens can be, however, subject to I.N.S.
"removal" proceedings.
Bryan
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