But again, it’s the wrong question. What should be asked is “Why is a known illegal alien allowed to remain in the United States instead of being deported?” [More]
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.” (Thomas Pynchon/”Gravity’s Rainbow”)
I agree that illegals have no place in American society. Nevertheless, this recent Democrat inspired invasion exposes a hole in our laws with respect to civil rights in general and RKBA in particular.
The Declaration of Independence says ” … that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, …” In their ruling in US v Cruikshank, SCOTUS ruled that RKBA does not come from The Constitution of the USA and in fact predates its existence. This implies that Obama’s (now deceased) uncle in his mud hut outside of Nairobi had the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as much as you or I do whether his government respected and defended his rights or not.
Keep in mind that Texas attempted to limit a state funded scholarship program limited to US citizens but SCOTUS ruled they couldn’t due to Fourteenth Amendment language citing “persons” instead of “citizens”. That language was also brought up when some claimed that illegals would not be covered under “Obamacare.” If illegals must be considered for state funded scholarships and for federally funded healthcare, then surely they have Bill of Rights protections as well.
I’m not any happier with the prospect of MS13 members going about in my neighborhood openly carrying whatever hardware they choose, any more than anyone else is. But the current situation has exposed the glaring possibility that the ones who are not felons may have the right to do so under current law. Whether this is seen as a grey area or an all devouring black hole, it should be recognized and addressed.
If they’re here illegally, deport them. If they’ve been found guilty of a crime punishable by more than a year in incarceration of some sort, even if the conviction was in a foreign court, they’re felons and so are prohibited persons per GCA68. But it should be recognized that those who are not felons, while they are here, even if illegally, likely do have constitutionally protected civil rights, including but not limited to RKBA.
One possible fix would be to make illegal entry a felony in all cases instead of the current misdemeanor for a first offense and felony for repeated offenses.
8 U.S. Code § 1325 – Improper entry by alien
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325
We’d probably still have to catch, charge, and convict them in order for the “prohibited person” language of GCA68 to take effect. Whether the offense would trip Associate Justice Barrett’s violent vs nonviolent felony test would have to be hashed out. Good luck getting the upgrade passed and signed into law in the current political environment.