A commenter challenged some assertions I made in yesterday’s post about illegal aliens in Virginia who believe they have a right to be enrolled in public colleges and receive in-state tuition, although they’re not even citizens of this country.
The commenter wrote:
“[I]llegal aliens’ rights are not coterminus (sic) with citizens’ rights, but they have many protections under the 14th Amendment and the Bill of Rights.”
The commenter is correct. I asserted that illegal aliens have no rights and protections under the Constitution. While I know that illegal aliens have certain due process rights under the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, the point I was making yesterday was that they have no “right” to attend public colleges in the United States. I need to be clear on what rights they do have.
In general, a person who is not a citizen of a country has no “right” to be in that country. Students, workers and visitors are permitted to be in a country depending on their visa status. The Constitution refers to three kinds of people: citizens, persons, and the people. Whether the drafters intended these terms to mean different things is the subject of another post.
Because illegal immigration is a crime, illegal aliens have certain rights under the Constitution. And here they are:
—The right to remain silent
—The right not to incriminate himself
—The right to counsel
—The right to court-appointed counsel if he can’t afford counsel — Actually, non-citizens don’t have a per se right to a court-appointed lawyer.
—The right to stop answering questions at any time and ask for counsel
—Knowing and understanding his rights
I stand corrected.
