“[A]nyone living in the U.S. — legally or not — has constitutional rights, including the right to equal protection of the law and that of due process (fair treatment in the judicial system).

This principle was furthered by the High Court’s 1973 decision in Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, which stated that non-citizens, regardless of legal status, are protected by the Constitution’s criminal charge-related amendments, including search and seizure, self-incrimination, freedom of expression and trial by jury.

Under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, undocumented immigrants can deny law enforcement officers entry into their homes unless they have a valid search warrant or have been given explicit consent.

In the landmark 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision, the court further expanded this umbrella of equal protection, striking down a Texas statute that denied free public education to undocumented residents. The court ruled that Texas’ law violated the Equal Protection Clause. All children, it concluded, regardless of immigration status, are therefore entitled to a free public education.

These are just some of the rights that the Constitution and federal law grant to everyone in the U.S.”

Mar. 28, 2017