Abstract
The immigration of aliens into the United States has historically been an important factor in the growth of the country’s population.1 Unfortunately, the demographic aspects of current immigration and its future impact have not been well studied. Indeed, demographic research presently is capable only of making estimates of unknown accuracy with regard to the volume and characteristics of immigrants, particularly those who enter the country illegally.2 However, while research on immigration is scanty, a substantial body of constitutional law exists on the subject. Our concern is to examine the constitutional authority of Congress to restrict immigration as a means of controlling population size and the authority of government at all levels to treat aliens already within the United States differently from citizens in order to discourage further immigration.
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Notes
C. Gibson, The Contribution of Immigration to the United States Population Growth: 1790–1970, 9 International Migration Review 157 (1975).
Charles Keely & Ellen Kraly, Recent Net Alien Immigration to the United States: Its Impact on Population Growth and Native Fertility, 15 Demography 267 (1978).
Charles Keely, Counting the Uncountable: Estimates of Undocumented Aliens in the United States, 3 Population & Development Review 473 (1977); see text accompanying notes 12–13 in chapter 1.
Fiallo v Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 792 (1977); Harisiades v Shaughnessy, 342 U.S. 580, 587-88 (1952); Fong Yue Ting v United States, 149 U.S. 698, 705, 711 (1893); The Chinese Exclusion Case, 130 U.S. 581, 609 (1889).
Hampton v Wong, 426 U.S. 88, 101 n.21 (1976); Fiallo v Bell, 430 U.S. 787,792(1977).
See Knauff v Shaughnessy, 338 U.S. 537, 542 (1950); Ekiu v United States, 142 U.S. 651, 659 (1892).
The Japanese Immigrant Case, 189 U.S. 86, 97 (1903); Fiallo v Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 796(1977).
House Select Committee on Population, Legal and Illegal Immigration to the United States, 95th Cong., 2d Sess. 25 (1978).
Sugarman v Dougall, 413 U.S. 634 (1973).
Graham v Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 371-72 (1971); see also Sugarman v Dougall, 413 U.S. at 642.
Ambach v Norwick, 441 U.S. 68, 75 (1979).
Id.
Foley v Connelie, 435 U.S. 291 (1978).
Truax v Raich, 239 U.S. 33(1915).
Id. at 41-42.
Takahashi v Fish & Game Comm’n, 334 U.S. 410 (1948).
In re Griffiths, 413 U.S. 717 (1973). The Court noted that a lawyer is neither a governmental official nor so involved in the political process as to formulate governmental policy. Id. at 729. Cases dealing with government functions in public employment are therefore not applicable to the practice of law.
Examining Bd. of Engineers, Architects, & Surveyors v Otero, 426 U.S. 572 (1976).
Id. at 605-6.
Graham v Richardson, 403 U.S. 365 (1971).
When there is a conflict between a state statute and a federal statute, the former must yield because of the supremacy clause of the Constitution. The clause provides that “[t]his Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.” Art. VI, cl. 2.
Nyquist v Mauclet, 432 U.S. 1 (1977).
Id. at 12.
Mathews v Diaz, 426 U.S. 67 (1976).
Hampton v Wong, 426 U.S. 88, 100 (1976).
426 U.S. at 81.
J. Gregory Robinson, Estimating the Approximate Size of the Illegal Alien Population in the United States by the Comparative Trend Analysis of Age-Specific Death Rates, 17 Demography 159, 174-75 (1980).
David M. Heer, What is the Annual Net Flow of Undocumented Mexican Immigrants to the United States?, 16 Demography 417 (1979). For estimates of public expenditures on illegal aliens, see Immigration to the United States: Hearings Before the Select Committee on Population, 95th Cong., 2d Sess. 572 (1978), statement of Burdette Wright for the County of Los Angeles. See also Task Force on Medical Care for Illegal Aliens, “The Economic Impact of Undocumented Immigrants on Public Health Services in Orange County,” reprinted in id., at 615.
De Canas v Bica, 424 U.S. 351 (1976).
The Supreme Court has agreed to review a Texas statute denying free public education to the children of illegal immigrants. Doe v Plyler, 628 F.2d 448 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. granted-U.S.-(1981) (No. 80-1538). See also In re Alien Children Education Litigation, 501 F.Supp. 544 (S.D. Tex. 1980).
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Barnett, L.D. (1982). Immigration. In: Population Policy and the U.S. Constitution. Kluwer · Nijhoff Studies in Human Issues. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2718-1_11
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