This is breathtakingly false:
"After they have been admitted to the US as permanent residents, given political asylum, they do have rights. Prior to this (which is what I am talking about), they are just "applicants" and have no rights under US constitution."
This is completely incorrect. Visitors to the U.S. and those not yet citizens are covered by most of the Bill of Rights.
A tourist, for example, cannot be told what religion he may practice, what he may write, nor can he have his hotel room simply entered without a search warrant. And if he is arrested for something, he has a right to a fair and speed trial, and so on and so forth.
In fact, only a few of the Bill of Rights items are specifically excluded from non-citizens (and convicted felons, usually): Second Amendment gun ownership rights may be affected in some jurisdictions (but not in others), the right to vote, a few others.
But in general a tourist, visitor, student visa person, or other non-citizen still has full Constitutional rights. Rights are not based on "citizenship."
--Tim May |
