In reading the segment regarding illegal immigrants in “The Truth About Conservatives” by Robert Zeis, published on April 23, I felt obliged to share some factual history of the matter.

Mr. Zeis makes the insightful argument that illegal immigrants are illegal. Although this observation is bound to revolutionize immigration law, the conclusions that he draws are vastly inaccurate.

In actuality, the matter is a constitutional issue, and not a simplistic conservative-liberal or legal-illegal dichotomy.

The opinion takes issue with the Fourteenth Amendment, which is necessary to cite, to shed constitutional light on the matter:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens 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.

The Equal Protection Clause applies to individuals within the jurisdiction of the United States, and is not restricted to the protection of citizens only; everyone within the jurisdiction of the state is subject to its laws, and therefore must be protected with its civil guarantees.

The issue of education of the children of undocumented aliens has already been resolved in the affirmative by the conservative Rehnquist Court, in Plyler v. Doe, ten years ago.

Also, the unsubstantiated contention that undocumented aliens are making a “run for the border” simply to receive nominal health care benefits, approaches silliness.

Although I’m sure Mr. Zeis’s position has received much support from groups which aren’t concerned with constitutional values, the issue has largely been decided by our Founding Fathers and the conservative Supreme Court.

I further find it ironic that Mr. Zeis requires concrete factual arguments from “liberals” when facts are of absolutely no concern to him; his opinion on the matter is devoid of even a single one.

In summary, it would be foolish to rewrite the Constitution and overturn competent Supreme Court precedents and instead buy into the unsubstantiated arguments of an angry young man, whose words of wisdom on the subject are that illegal immigrants are illegal.

Carl Goodmonson

Senior

Speech Communication and