· Border Crossing Law Firm · By Shahid Haque · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
This archive note preserves Justice William J. Brennan's statement in Plyler v. Doe that immigrants are "persons" protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, regardless of their status under immigration law.
The quotation states a constitutional principle underlying much of the firm's public work: unlawful immigration status does not erase due-process rights.
Whatever his status under the immigration laws, an alien is surely a ‘person’ in the ordinary sense of that term. Aliens, even aliens whose presence in this country is unlawful, have long been recognized as ‘persons’ guaranteed due process of law by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Plyler v. Doe (1982).