Law Commons^™

Inside The Border, Outside The Law: Undocumented Immigrants And The Fourth Amendment, D. Carolina Nuñez

Faculty Scholarship

As states enact immigration-related laws requiring local law enforcement officers to identify and detain undocumented immigrants, the Fourth Amendment rights of aliens are becoming critically important. In United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, a divided Supreme Court suggested that aliens in the United States do not have Fourth Amendment rights unless they have established "substantial connections" to the United States. Lower courts have relied on Verdugo's holding to categorically deny Fourth Amendment rights to certain classes of undocumented immigrants. Commentators have criticized the "substantial connections" test as an isolated misinterpretation of Court precedent regarding the rights of aliens within the United States. …