Five Supreme Court decisions, from 1876 to 2012, show how the Court has answered four questions about immigration: who decides, who is a citizen, what Congress may do about people already here, and what a state may do on its own.
Washington decides, not the states
Chy Lung v. Freeman (1876), decided March 20, 1876. California required a bond for certain classes of passengers arriving by ship, among them "lewd and debauched women." The Court found that the features of the statute showed that its purpose was to extort money from a large class of passengers, or to prevent their immigration to California altogether. Justice Miller, for the Court, held it void as invading "the right of Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations." "The passage of laws which concern the admission of citizens and subjects of foreign nations to our shores belongs to Congress, and not to the States."
Birthright citizenship
United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), decided March 28, 1898. Wong Kim Ark was born in the United States to parents of Chinese descent who were subjects of the Emperor of China but had a permanent domicile and residence in the United States and carried on business there. Justice Gray, for the Court, held that a child so born "becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States, by virtue of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution," which says "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
Deportation for past membership
Harisiades v. Shaughnessy (1952), decided March 10, 1952. The case concerned a federal law authorizing the deportation of a legally resident alien because of membership in the Communist Party, even if the membership ended before the law was enacted. Justice Jackson, for the Court, held that the law was within Congress's power under the Constitution.
Schooling for undocumented children
Plyler v. Doe (1982), decided June 15, 1982. A Texas statute withheld from local school districts any state funds for the education of children who were not "legally admitted" into the United States, and authorized districts to deny enrollment to those children. Justice Brennan, for the Court, held that the statute violates the Equal Protection Clause, and that the "illegal aliens" who were plaintiffs may claim its benefit, since it provides that no State shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
State enforcement
Arizona v. United States (2012), decided June 25, 2012. Arizona enacted S.B. 1070, citing the large number of unlawful aliens in the State. The United States sued, arguing that the law was preempted, and the district court preliminarily enjoined four provisions. Justice Kennedy, for the Court, held that §§ 3, 5(C) and 6 are preempted by federal law. Section 3 makes failure to comply with federal alien-registration requirements a state misdemeanor, and the Court held that it "intrudes on the field of alien registration, a field in which Congress has left no room for States to regulate." Section 5(C), which makes it a misdemeanor for an unauthorized alien to seek or engage in work in the State, stands as an obstacle to the federal regulatory system.
What the five decisions show
Chy Lung and Arizona, 136 years apart, reach the same conclusion on who controls immigration. Wong Kim Ark and Plyler set limits on what a government can do to people born in the country or living there. Harisiades upheld Congress's power to deport a resident alien for past membership in the Communist Party. This post stops at 2012, and it does not cover the Court's later immigration decisions.
Sources
- Chy Lung v. Freeman (1876), 92 U.S. 275: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), 169 U.S. 649: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- Harisiades v. Shaughnessy (1952), 342 U.S. 580: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- Plyler v. Doe (1982), 457 U.S. 202: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- Arizona v. United States (2012), 567 U.S. 387: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
Updated November 2026.
This post was rewritten with AI (Claude) and reviewed by an editor before publication.
