Where in the Constitution is it stated that non citizens have the same rights as U.S. citizens?

Question

Just wondering???

Answer 1

The only place in the Constitution where it mentions citizens is the part about voting and eligibility to be president.

Answer 2

I would say it does and doesn't. And there is a reason for that. The Framers knew this was going to be a country of immigrants. They could not have tens of thousands, and even millions of people roaming through out the states with a different set of rights. Therefore they granted all people the rights listed in the Amendments and made no connection to citizenship. And, that makes sense. If the Framers had decided to grant citizens of the US more freedoms than new arrivals or people vacationing and doing business, imagine what the states would have done to each other.

The states would have had a reasonable right to say that people who are not "citizens" of state XYZ, do not have the same right as the "citizens" of XYZ while working/visiting/traveling through XYZ and therefore are subject to less freedom under the Constitution.



Now, when it came to voting and other rights that only citizens would have - that was a different matter and were addressed.

Answer 3

Everywhere. The Constitution makes no distinction between citizens, non-citizens, or illegal immigrants. It says that 'no person' shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury...nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy....

Note how it makes no reference to their legal status. Persons are persons, regardless of their immigration status. Anyone who is physically present in the United States is guaranteed the same rights and protections under the law.
The Declaration of Independence stated that these rights were universal to all mankind, endowed by their Creator, not by a government.

Contrary to popular belief, your rights are not given to you by the Constitution; every human being is born with the same rights. The Constitution is meant to limit how those rights might be abridged by government. It is designed to outline what the government may or may not do, not what individuals can or can't do.

Answer 4

When the clause uses the words "any person" or "any accused". That means, any person. Since the Constitution ues the word "citizen" in some places and "person" in others, we must assume that the difference in words was deliberate.

Not to mention that the phrase "Congress shall pass no laws" means just that -- restrictions on what the government can go, regardless of who they are doing it to. Nothing in there says "Congress shall make no laws against citizens...".

The few clauses that refer to citizens (Article IV, parts of the 14th Amendment, a few others) apply only to citizens.

But if it doesn't say "citizen" and instead says "person", then it applies to all persons. That's what the Supreme Court has consistently held for well over a century.

Answer 5

Hey angel why not list ONE Constitutional Right we have lost? Oh wait because we haven't lost ANY. That is if you READ THE CONSTITUTION all the "rights" you people CLAIM we have lost then you will see we didn't have them. The Constitution NEVER said that non-citizens have rights. At least not to the degree of illegal non-citizens. I think the writing of the power was to the people and using PEOPLE was meant to cover Citizens and LEGAL Aliens. Give credit to a good lawyer that argued to make it sound like it mean EVERYONE. Odd how I still have to follow the laws of any other country and don't have any special rights. Everyone here should have to follow the rules and have the same rights in that sense. If you mean cases like Gitmo, calling them enemy combatants to get out of the Geneva Conventions is part of what brought on the Supreme Court decision.

Answer 6

Like the Holy Bible, the US Constitution is wide open to interpretation. Unfortunately the ultimate interpretation is left up to nine semi-senile ancient ones, a.k.a. the US Supreme Court. Stir into that mish mash the factor of whether the Court is composed of a majority of liberals or conservatives and just plain old politics enters the equation.

The creators of the Constitution would turn over in their graves if they saw the Court turning loose legally convicted felons because they might be uncomfortable in prison, or putting its stamp of approval on the slaughter of 3-million babies every year, etc., etc.,.

Answer 7

The Constitution and bill of rights refer only to the rights of Americans.

Answer 8

They use the 14th amendment

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; 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.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

The amendment provides a broad definition of national citizenship, overturning a central holding of the Dred Scott case. It requires the states to provide equal protection under the laws to all persons (not only to citizens) within their jurisdictions. The significance of the Fourteenth Amendment was exemplified when it was interpreted to prohibit racial segregation in public schools and other facilities in Brown v. Board of Education.

Answer 9

What rights???????????????Your prez abolished them...We let him.........How sad that our children will never see the freedoms we once had