Bacon, Guns & Whiskey

BUT… and it’s a big, hairy “but”: there such a thing as the 14 Amendment, which says in Section 1, “[n]o 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” (emphasis mine). But it says “citizens” right there, dude. People here unlawfully aren’t citizens. You’re right. Except notice the semicolon. Then notice at the authors used “citizens” in the first sentence, but not the second. An accident? They forgot? One dude wrote the first part and some other dude wrote the second? Maybe, but the plain text creates a distinction between ‘abridging the rights of citizens’ and denying “any person” of due process. The SCOTUS has universally applied the Due Process Clause to both federal and state cases, so hanging your hat on that word doesn’t work, either.

By the way, it’s worth saying that if your position is that the Constitution only applies to citizens, then feel free to deport yourself to wherever your lineage is from — because all immigration is solely because it’s explicitly enumerated in the Constitution. Period. (“Hard stop,” as my teenagers like to say. Insert eye roll here.)

Despite what the ACLU might say, unlawful entry and continued presence in the US is not just a civil matter — it is also criminal. That being said, snatching people from their immigration appointments (2 separate links) — where they are doing the right thing and going through the process legally is crazy.

And ICE detaining US citizens because they think they might be here unlawfully is never acceptable — we fire city cops when they arrest the wrong person, and that’s usually just before the person wins a lawsuit for unlawful detention.

So like my thoughts on Israel-Palestine, you can be anti-unlawful entry/immigration AND pro-civil rights. Don’t let the media or politicians manipulate you into ignoring the facts of either of those points.