ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the legislation targeting non-citizens and explains why the Equal Protection Clause does not allow such discrimination. Longstanding judicial precedent dictates that non-citizens are never granted the same constitutional protection as American citizens. Tellingly, even while due-process protections were circumscribed, the United States Supreme Court invoked the Equal Protection Clause to protect non-citizens. Plyler v. Doe answered the question of whether undocumented immigrant children have the same right of access to primary and secondary public schools as citizen-children and lawfully present immigrant children. Long before the United States Senate began its latest attempt at comprehensive immigration reform, various state legislatures entered the arena of immigration enforcement. Through Secure Communities program, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) capitalizes on an existing 'information-sharing partnership' between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement jurisdictions. Initially, local jurisdictions were told that participation in Secure Communities was not mandatory and a jurisdiction could decide to 'opt-out' of the program.
