Last updated on: 1/30/2017 | Author: ProCon.org

May 18, 1896 – US Supreme Court Rules Due Legal Process Extends to Undocumented Immigrants

“In the 1896 case Wong Wing vs. US, the Supreme Court ruled that even an immigrant who had broken immigration law still had the right to make his case to a judge before being ‘deprived of life, liberty, or property.’

[The Supreme Court stated:] ‘[A]ll persons within the territory of the United States are entitled to the protection guarantied 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.’

The court decision establishes that the US Constitution” Fifth and Sixth amendments—which grant the right to a public trial and prohibit detention without due legal process—extend to all people on US soil.”