Illegal Immigrants Should Have the Same Rights as Everyone in America - Essay Sample

Introduction

Our attitude to the immigration issue reflects on our faith in what is the American ideal. We always hold the belief that it is possible for women and men who at one time are at the bottom will rise to a level their energy and talent allow. Neither their place of birth nor race should come in their way to affect their chances. In the United States since the founding of the nation about 55 million immigrants from the different continents settled in America. In America apart from the native Americans, everyone else in the United States is either a descendant of involuntary and voluntary immigrants or an immigrant. Although the United States has over time experienced a wave of immigration especially during political turmoil, economic hardship or even war every wave gets to experience hostility and fear. The fact that the term illegal immigrants are nowhere in the Us constitution does not in any way mean that the freedoms and rights in the law do not apply unto them. The editorial illustrates whether illegal immigrants just like everyone in America should enjoy the same rights.

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When one is in the United States as an illegal immigrant and does not have legal documentation, various sections in the constitution apply to the immigrant. In the Fourteenth Amendment, there is a specific section that outlines that there is no state that will deprive any person's freedom and rights to life, liberty or even right to own property without following the constitution or the law. Also, the constitution shall not deny any person protection under the law within its jurisdiction (Nicholls). The legal rights that protect the undocumented immigrants mainly constitute the Fourteenth amendment to the Equal protection clause. Illegal immigrants, therefore, should get protected under the American supreme law and any form of prosecution should happen within the law.

The supreme court in 1896 reinforced the concept. The supreme court highlighted that the Fourteenth Amendment applied to all the people within the territorial jurisdiction and this is without any regard to color, nationality or race differences and equal protection law is a pledge to the protection of equal rights and freedoms (Nicholls). Therefore, the provisions are universal when it comes to their application of the people as per the territorial jurisdiction. In this regard, the illegal immigrants should receive the same treatment as the citizens in the protection of human rights.

Federal law in America, for instance, stipulates that publicly funded hospitals are required to offer emergency medical services without discrimination which applies to all the patients notwithstanding illegal immigrants. In the immigrant societies, it is very critical for them to understand their rights as espoused in the constitution and federal law just like citizens they also are protected under the law. Undocumented immigrants will receive emergency medical care just like other citizens in America. Public health programs are open to all regardless of immigration status as well as the lunch and breakfast programs in schools. Illegal immigrants enjoy the same protection as the citizens except in some few instances such as voting rights but should be protected under the law and constitution the same way as citizens and documented immigrants.

The law that encompasses the undocumented immigrants' legal rights is complicated. In every case the merits and demerits are not the same, they are unique. Illegal immigrants get protection against discrimination because of nationality or race (Bosnia 55). In the case of employers, they have to ask the illegal immigrant for legal authorization to be able to get employed. The request for documentation has to be the policy of the company, and the undocumented immigrant should not get discriminated upon because it should cover all the workers.

In other words, any person living in the United States whether legally or not enjoys inalienable constitutional rights that include the right to equal protection and following of the due process in the law. The principle gets furthered by 1973 decision by the high court in the case of United States V. Almeida Sanchez, which apparently set out that non-citizens enjoy their legal status and the protection from constitution's criminal amendments related to charges such as seizure and search, freedom of expression, self-incrimination and trial by jury (Ngai). The constitutional rights set the stage for the society and govern the rules. Therefore, the illegal immigrants should have similar rights to citizens as espoused in the federal law and constitution.

The courts in a landmark decision in 1982 Doe v. Plyer decision the court expanded further the equal protection umbrella by also striking down a statute by Texas that acted to deny free public education of the undocumented residents (Bosnia 57). The court's ruling was that Texas acted in violation of the Equal protection clause. All children in America as a result of the court's decision regardless of the status of immigration get entitled to free public education.

Conclusion

Supreme courts and other lower courts in America make pronouncements that serve to safeguard and also forestall any subversion of the supreme law of the land. Illegal immigrants currently do not enjoy the full status just as citizens do, for example, voting rights in the United States. The courts have on several occasions consistently upheld the immigration laws when the legislatures try to deny the illegal immigrants their freedoms and rights espoused under the constitution in America. However, many states continue to pass laws that limit undocumented immigrants' access to public resources and benefits, but in my honest opinion, these laws are unconstitutional. All people get equal protection under the United States Constitution and laws.

Works Cited

Bosnia, Linda. "Being here: ethical territoriality and the rights of immigrants." Migrants and Rights. Routledge, 2017. 53-74.

Ngai, Mae M. Impossible subjects: Illegal aliens and the making of modern America. Princeton University Press, 2014.

Nicholls, Walter J. The DREAMers: How the undocumented youth movement transformed the immigrant rights debate. Stanford University Press, 2013.