Immigration and Constitutional Rights

1. Immigration and Constitutional Rights By Theresa Sidebotham

3. Introduction Freedom draws people to America; economic freedom, religious freedom, and civil freedom. But which constitutional freedoms apply to immigrants and when do they apply?

4. This research project looks for resources on rights people have before they enter U.S. soil, rights they have as aliens with or without documentation, rights Lawful Permanent Residents may have, and whether those differ from the full rights of citizenship.

5. Current concerns are whether and to what extent terrorism and security issues affect the civil rights of aliens. Although regulating aliens has generally fallen to the legislative and executive branches, these recent concerns, particularly as related to hostile aliens, have stimulated response from the judiciary.

6. Search Terms

7. Search Terms for databases without much information Immigrant Immigration Alien Search Terms for databases with broad information Immigrant Immigration Alien Constitution /p right “Civil rights” “Due process” Search Terms

8. Databases

9. Databases • HOMELAND-ALL • Homeland Security and Anti-Terrorism--Texts and Periodicals and Primary Law • LRI-D • Legal Resource Index • WEST-FDADM • West Federal Administrative Practice • TEXTS • Texts and Treatises

10. Databases • LEGNEWSL • Legal Newsletter Multibase • IM-PRACLIB • Immigration Practice Library • FIM-INA • Immigration and Nationality Act • FIM-BIAPRAC • Federal Immigration--Board of Immigration Appeals Practice Manual

11. Websites

12. Websites • U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services • http://uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm • U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Forms and Fees • http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/index.htm#chart • Department of State Immigration Resources • www.state.gov

13. Websites • Immigration Forum and American Immigration Lawyers on the Web • http://www.immigration-usa.com/lawyers.html • Federation for American Immigration Reform • http://www.fairus.org/ • Immigration Law Center on the Internet • http://www.visaus.com/

14. Website Federation for American Immigration Reform This is the most useful site for immigrants’ rights • Yes, an alien, even an illegal alien, has criminal procedure rights.

15. Conclusion Aliens who have not entered U.S. soil, or who are here illegally, have basic international human rights, but don’t generally have rights under the Constitution, except for criminal procedure. Particularly, they do not have a right to be here. Security concerns have affected aliens’ rights in some ways, and this issue will continue to be debated.

16. Conclusion Aliens’ rights progressively increase as they achieve lawful presence, and become Legal Permanent Residents, and finally, citizens. U.S. citizens’ rights are the same, no matter how the citizenship was derived.