“…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” The Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress, July 4, 1776.
I learned these words in Junior High Civics Class. I understood them to mean that the rights we have are given us by God and that governments are meant to protect those rights. Today, all too often, people believe that those rights are given to us by our government.
During the 2007 comprehensive immigration reform debate, I heard Todd Schnitt of radio’s “Schnitt Show” talk about an undocumented woman worker who was suing her employer for sexual harassment. It seems the employer wanted sex from the woman; if she refused, she would lose her job. Mr. Schnitt’s commentary shocked me. “Who does she think she is? She has no rights in this country! Only citizens have rights!” I almost ran my car off the road. What? Only citizens have rights? When did that happen?
Then today, as I was doing some research, I came across a similar statement from an organization called New Media Alliance, with the tag line, “Partnering for Truth and Liberty.” Here’s a quote from their “fact sheet” (all emphases from New Media Alliance):
· “Claim: ‘Illegal immigrants are being denied [their] civil rights’
False: Civil rights pertain ONLY to citizens. The Merriam-Webster online Dictionary defines civil-rights as: “The nonpolitical rights of a citizen; especially: the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress.” If one is not a citizen of the country, civil rights do not apply.”
Again I was stunned. So I looked up the 13th and 14th amendments. The 13th is short; it abolishes slavery. The 14th is longer. A lot of it defines who is a citizen, who can hold office, etc. But the first paragraph also says this:
“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.” (Emphasis mine.)
It seems very clear to me that the protections of the civil rights of ANY PERSON are guaranteed by this amendment, regardless of citizenship status, including the right to sue one’s employer for sexual harassment. “EQUAL protection of the laws.”
This idea that only U.S. citizens are entitled to equal protection of the laws might well spring from the use of the term “illegal alien” to describe a person who has no immigration status. People are not legal or illegal. They are human beings with rights given them by their Creator. Where they were born does not determine whether they have rights. And in the USA, it is unconstitutional to deny equal protection to any person because that person is not a citizen.
That is why immigrant rights advocates refer to those who have no immigration status as undocumented, not illegal. It might seem like a small thing but words have power to shape how we think about things.
When the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in 1776 it was a radically new way of thinking about government and the rights of men. Ever since then we have been perfecting our understanding of it. It took until 1865 for slavery to be abolished, and then another three years before the 14th Ammendement was ratified to guarantee citizenship to those freed slaves and equal protection under the law to every person. It was another hundred plus years before the descendents of those slaves could begin to claim those protections for real. We must never go back to a time when only the privileged few enjoyed full protection of the law. NO PERSON IS ILLEGAL.