WASHINGTON—To counter widespread, inaccurate statements in the media about the Trump Administration’s efforts to control illegal immigration, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has published a report explaining what rights immigrants have and do not have in the United States.
Numerous establishment media outlets and illegal alien advocacy groups have characterized President Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts as a “violation of alien’s civil rights.” However, none of these groups have been able to articulate exactly what rights would be infringed through enforcement of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) – a statute that has been on the books since 1965.
In order to assess whether these claims are true, IRLI examined what rights foreign nationals actually have in connection with the immigration process. And we found that foreign nationals have no right to enter the United States, or to remain here, unless authorized by the federal government.
The report also debunks a number of misunderstandings about immigration law. For example, aliens have no right to be admitted to the U.S., aliens with green cards can still be deported, and aliens facing deportation have no right to free legal counsel. These and other questions are explained with the support of ample legal precedent.
According to Matt O’Brien, IRLI’s director of investigations, “If you listened to the anti-borders contingent, you would believe that illegal aliens and other immigration violators have an unfettered right to enter the U.S. and stay here as they please. But that is definitively not the case. And the Supreme Court has been remarkably consistent on this issue over the last 150 years.”
“This report is necessary to correct falsehoods that illegal immigration activists, anti-borders politicians and partisan media figures have been pushing for years,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “By law, illegal aliens in this country have far less rights here than their advocates would have us believe. The United States is not a welcome wagon to anyone who wants to enter at the time and place of their choosing. We are a nation of laws, and if our nation has a future, those laws must be followed.”
Read the complete report here.
