Do Illegal Immigrants Have Constitutional Rights

The fact that the term illegal immigrants does not appear in the document doesnt mean that the  U.S. Constitutions  rights and freedoms do not apply to them. Often described as a living document, the Constitution has repeatedly been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appeals courts, and Congress in order to address the ever-changing needs and demands of the people. While many argue that We the People of the United States, refers only to legal citizens, the Supreme Court has consistently disagreed. Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) In Yick Wo v. Hopkins, a case involving the rights of Chinese immigrants, the Court ruled that the 14th Amendments statement, Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applied to all persons without regard to any differences of race, of color, or of nationality, and to an alien, who has entered the country, and has become subject in all respects to its jurisdiction, and a part of its population, although alleged to be illegally here. [Kaoru Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U.S. 86 (1903)] Wong Wing v. United States (1896) Citing Yick Wo v. Hopkins, the Court, in the case of Wong Wing v. United States, further applied the citizenship-blind nature of the Constitution to the 5th and 6th amendments, stating . . . it must be concluded that all persons within the territory of the United States are entitled to the protection guaranteed by those amendments, and that even aliens shall not be held to answer for a capital or other infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Plyler v. Doe (1982) In Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law prohibiting enrollment of illegal aliens in public school. In its decision, the Court held, The illegal aliens who are plaintiffs in these cases challenging the statute may claim the benefit of the Equal Protection Clause, which provides that no State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Whatever his status under the immigration laws, an alien is a person in any ordinary sense of that term†¦ . The undocumented status of these children vel non does not establish a sufficient rational basis for denying them benefits that the State affords other residents. It's All About Equal Protection When the Supreme Court decides cases dealing with First Amendment rights, it typically draws guidance from the 14th Amendments principle of equal protection under the law. In essence, the equal protection clause extends First Amendment protection to anyone and everyone covered by the 5th and 14th Amendments. Through the courts consistent rulings that the 5th and 14th Amendments apply equally to illegal aliens, such people also enjoy First Amendment rights.In rejecting the argument that the equal protections of the 14th Amendment are limited to U.S. citizens, the Supreme Court has referred to the  language used by the Congressional Committee that drafted the amendment. The last two clauses of the first section of the amendment disable a State from depriving not merely a citizen of the United States, but any person, whoever he may be, of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or from denying to him the equal protection of the laws of the State. This abolishes all class legislation in the States and does away with the injustice of subjecting one caste of persons to a code not applicable to another... . It [the 14th Amendment] will, if adopted by the States, forever disable every one of them from passing laws trenching upon those fundamental rights and privileges which pertain to citizens of the United States, and to all persons who may happen to be within their jurisdiction. While undocumented workers do not enjoy all of the rights granted to citizens by the Constitution, specifically the rights to vote or possess firearms, these rights can also be denied to U.S. citizens convicted of felonies. In final analysis, the courts have ruled that, while they are within the borders of the United States, undocumented workers  are granted the same fundamental, undeniable constitutional rights granted to all Americans. Case in Point An excellent illustration of the extent to which undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are afforded constitutional rights can be seen in the tragic shooting death of Kate Steinle. On July 1, 2015, Ms. Steinle was killed  while visiting a seaside pier in San Francisco by a single bullet fired from a pistol admittedly held by Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant. A citizen of Mexico, Garcia Zarate had been deported several times and had previous convictions for illegally re-entering the U.S. after being deported. Just before the shooting, he had been released from a San Francisco jail after a minor drug charge against him was dismissed. While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detention order for Garcia Zarate, police released him under San Francisco’s controversial sanctuary city law. Garcia Zarate was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, and variety of firearm possession violations. In his trial, Garcia Zarate claimed that he had found the gun used in the shooting wrapped in a T-shirt under a bench,  that it went off accidentally as he unwrapped it, and that he had not intended to shoot anyone. Prosecutors, however, claimed Garcia Zarate had been seen carelessly pointing the gun at people before the shooting. On December 1, 2017, after a lengthy deliberation, the jury acquitted Garcia Zarate on all charges except that of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Under the constitutional guarantee of â€Å"due process of law,† the jury found reasonable doubt in Garcia Zarate’s claim that the shooting had been an accident. In addition, Garcia Zarate’s criminal record, details of his prior convictions, or immigration status were not allowed to be presented as evidence against him. In this, as in all cases, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, despite being a previously convicted undocumented alien, was afforded the same constitutional rights as those guaranteed to full citizens and lawful immigrant  residents of the United States within the criminal justice system.​

Everyday Use By Alice Walker - 962 Words

In Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use,† this story describes what a continuing theme in her writings is: the depiction of constant harmony and inner struggles and conflicts that the minority culture goes through especially the African-American society. In Alice Walker Short Story â€Å"Everyday Use† it centers on the relationships between a lower class family by the name of Johnson in a small poor rural community. This meeting takes place when the oldest daughter Dee comes home to visit her mother and sister, Maggie with her paramour. Dee being the oldest is the only person in her family to go off to college and see the world. The encounter between the sisters is basically a meeting among two diverse analyses of the African-American society. Alice Walker engages the symbolism and characterization to point out the changes among these analyses and eventually to support one by displaying that heritage and culture is part of one’s daily life. In the beginning of the reading it deals with characterizing the mother and the narrator of the story. More precisely, the mother’s language pinpoints to a relationship amongst herself and her surroundings: as she patiently waits for her oldest daughter Dee â€Å"in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy† (88). The importance on the characteristics of the yard, the desire in it displayed by the word â€Å"so,† pinpoints to the connection that she and her youngest daughter have to their home and to the daily repetition in theirShow MoreRelatedEveryday Use By Alice Walker852 Words   |  4 Pagescomes or belongs to one by reason of birth. In â€Å"Everyday Use†, by Alice Walker, the theme of the story can be considered as the meaning of heritage or even the power of education. Alice Walker uses many symbols and motifs such as the following: quilts, education, knowledge, Asalamalakim, and the renaming of Dee. In the story, African heritage and knowledge takes a m ajor role. The African heritage plays a major role in the story, â€Å"Everyday Use†. Alice Walker emphasizes the meaning of heritage by havingRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1372 Words   |  6 PagesEverday Use† research paper In â€Å"everyday Use,† Alice Walker tells a narrative of a mother’s frustrating relationship together with her two daughters. At this facet, â€Å",Everyday Use†, tells that how a mom little by little refuses the cursory values of her older, successful daughter at the aspect of the useful values of her younger, much less lucky daughter. On a deeper outlook, Alice Walker takes on the theme of heritage and its norms as it applies to African-Americans. Everday Use, is set insideRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1102 Words   |  5 Pagespoem â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers† can be read similar to Alice Walker s short story Everyday Use† both are compared by the women’s ways of showing their strengths and how they identify their values, expressions and strength. Advertised in the general outlines of the plot, both literary themes talks of a quest for freedom, the characters identity and self-expression. Adrienne Rich â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers† Alice Walker â€Å"Everyday Use† Comparison Paper Analyzing the two types of literatureRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1372 Words   |  6 Pagessociety as a whole, but more specifically in the African American Community. Alice Walker gives slight insight into   what being forced   to assimilate is like. She says in her short story Everyday Use: She will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. Statements such as these are a regular occurrence in her works. Walker often speaks on the ever so disheartening topic of cultural assimilation and theRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker996 Words   |  4 PagesIn the short story â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker, the author describes different ideas about one’s heritage. Culture and heritage is at the main point of the story â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker as symbolized by the quilt. The bond that Mother and Maggie share is brought by their common talent to make works of art like quilts. Dee does not have similar capacity because she does not appreciate manual labor nor believes in her heritage. The idea of pride in culture, heritage, and family is the mainRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1721 Words   |  7 PagesIn her short story â€Å"Everyday Use,† Alice Walker summarizes the representation of the beauty, the conflicts and struggles within African-American culture. â€Å"Everyday Use† focuses mainly between members of the Johnson family, consisting of a mother and her two daughters. One of the daughters Maggie, who was injured in a house fire and has living a shy life clinging to her mother for security. Her older sister is Dee, who grew up with a grace and natural beauty. â€Å"Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicerRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1655 Words   |  7 PagesIn â€Å"everyday Use,† Alice Walker tells a narrative of a mother’s frustrating relationship together with her two dau ghters. At this facet, â€Å",Everyday Use†, tells that how a mom little by little refuses the cursory values of her older, successful daughter at the aspect of the useful values of her younger, much less lucky daughter. On a deeper outlook, Alice Walker takes on the theme of heritage and its norms as it applies to African-Americans. Everday Use, is set inside the late ,60s or mid ,70sRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1735 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker and â€Å"Brownies† by ZZ Packer are two different short stories with different lessons but both talk about the topic of race. Both stories talks about the time in the 20th century when slavery just ended but racism are still active between African Americans and Caucasians. Walker described a story about a single African American mother who is waiting for her daughter to arrive from college. Packer described a story about these African American fourth graders who are inRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1111 Words   |  5 Pagestheir culture. Alice Walker highlights and distinguishes the dissimilarities and clichà © of country African American women with the actualities that make up their lives. Characterized by short, compound sentences, with long adjectives and use of literary elements, her style is eloquent co nversational and authentic. Alice Walker’s short story, Everyday Use is stylistic, ironic and narrates profound interpretation of unique views and approaches to African-American culture. Walker’s use of characterizationRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1725 Words   |  7 Pages17 April 2017 Everything is Not What it Seems Sometimes people forget that heritage has to do with truly understanding their past. Many often misrepresent it, especially the younger generations who just accept its presence. Alice Walker’s short story, â€Å"Everyday Use,† revolves around an African American family that consists of three women, who are very different from each other. The story begins with Maggie and Mama waiting in the yard for Dee, the main character, to visit from Augusta. Dee is

Plato On Justice And Injustice Essay Paper Example For Students

Plato On Justice And Injustice Essay Paper Plato on Justice and Injustice In The Republic, Plato attempts to demonstrate through the character and discourse of Socrates that justice is better than justice is the good which men must strive for, regardless of whether they could be unjust and still be rewarded. His method is to use dialectic, the asking and answering of questions which led the hearer from one point to another, supposedly with irrefutable logic by obtaining agreement to each point before going on to the next, and so building an argument. Early on, his two young listeners pose the question of whether justice is stronger than injustice, what each does to a man, and what makes the first good and the second bad. In answering this question, Socrates deals directly with the philosophy of the individuals goodness and virtue, but also ties it to his concept of the perfect state, which is a republic of three classes of people with a rigid social structure and little in the way of amusement. Although Socrates returns time and again to the concept of justice in his discourse on the perfect city-state, much of it seems off the original subject. One of his main points, however, is that goodness is doing what is best for the common, greater good rather than for individual happiness. There is a real sense in which his philosophy turns on the concepts of virtue, and his belief that ultimately virtue is its own reward. His first major point is that justice is an excellence of character. He then seeks agreement that no excellence is achieved through destructive means. The function of justice is to improve human nature, which is inherently constructive. Therefore, at a minimum, justice is a form of goodness that cannot be involved in injuring someones character. Justice, in short, is a virtue, a human excellence. His next point is that acting in accordance with excellence brings happiness. Then he ties excellence to ones function. His examples are those of the senses each sensory organ is excellent if it per forms its function, as the eye sees, the ear hears. Therefore, the just person is a happy person is a person who performs his function. Since these are tied together, injustice can never exceed these virtues and so justice is stronger and is the good. However, Socrates does not stop there. He goes on to examine the question of the nature of justice and the just life. He identifies the four of the Athenian virtues: wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. For the bulk of the book, he looks at each virtue separately in terms of the perfect city state, but our focus is on justice. But he makes the point that justice, of the virtues, resides in mans relations to other men, not just in man as an individual. Thus, it is an excellence in social organization and in the organization of the human soul. So justice is a virtue which must be connected to the function of efficient and healthful cooperation. Justice is in one sense the greatest virtue for it is key to making the other virtues wor k together for the common good. If all the parts are to work together as a whole, each must have on function to excel at. Like the organs of the body, all contribute to the whole, but the eyes only see, the ears only hear. They do not share functions. Using this analogy, justice would be something like the moral mind which guides the body in its activities. Justice, then is the head, at the top of the hierarchy in social terms. When the other three virtues work together in orderly fashion within the state, justice is produced. But for justice to be produced, it must come from everyone doing his assigned function under the excellent guidance of the ruling class. Despite his emphasis of justice as a function of the perfect state, Socrates also deals with justice as a personal virtue.He finds that there is a parallel between the organization of the state and the organization of the individual. Just as there are three virtues other than justice, Socrates finds three parts in the individ ual soul sensation, .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 , .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .postImageUrl , .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 , .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9:hover , .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9:visited , .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9:active { border:0!important; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9:active , .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9 .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u1be57c212950d60820a018a297fddab9:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Oedipus the King Essay Thesis