ABSTRACT
Migration to the United States has long been understood as a concern of US national policy rather than as a human rights issue. After all, membership in the US nation is conferred by the US state; it is granted to children whose parents are citizens (jus sanguinis) or who were born on the territory of the United States (jus soli). Alternatively, citizenship can be acquired through naturalization. US citizenship provides access to what Linda Bosniak has called “internal citizenship rights” in the civil, political, and social realms, such as the right to vote and stand for elections; free choice of employment and other employment-related rights; as well as access to public services and welfare benefits. The status of noncitizens who live on US territory is regulated by US immigration law. Their temporary or permanent legal status largely affords them access to some of the same internal rights, but cannot vote, can be denied Medicare benefits, and can be excluded from certain public sector jobs (Bosniak 2006: 34, 49). Independently of legal status, however, any US noncitizen is potentially deportable.
