Let’s get this off the table right now: “Due Process” is not a right of a Citizenship. We have a right to “Due Process” because we are a “Person” and subject to the jurisdiction (laws) of the United States. It was explicitly established in the 14th Amendment (Section 1) and from the debates in congress and in the several states it was made very clear that it was a right of a person, not just a Citizen. In later years the Courts made it clear that the right wasn’t just “Pro Forma” (that is “In form Only”). That the process given had to be both real and applied to all persons equally.
I have recently heard it said that “criminals” or “aliens” have no right to “Due Process” because they are not entitled to it. Nothing could be more nefarious to the sanctity of our Constitution and to our freedoms. Just consider this thought thought experiment:
If we go with the idea that the right to “Due Process” is a constitutional right only, how do you prove you are a citizen of the United States? Who do you prove it to? The person taking you into custody? What document do you have on your person, right now, that “Proves” your citizenship? So say you only have a copy of your birth certificate, can you prove that it is actually yours? But let’s say you do have such documentation, why would the person taking you into custody pay it any mind? If you can’t get into court unless the person(s) taking the action can be forced by the court to produce you in the court what can you do?
This is why “Due Process” is so critical. It means that the government, and it’s agents, must follow a well and pre-defined set of procedures (process) when ever it wants to deny someone their “Life, Liberty, or Property”.
So why is it a right you have because you are a person and not a citizen? That is very easy to answer, in 1865 (when the amendment was written) the United States had a very large body of people living in the United States who were not citizens. The easiest to identify were the Irish. Yes the Irish. In 1865 there was a great many Irish in this country and few if any could afford to apply for naturalization, so they didn’t. In 1865 there was no such thing as an “Illegal Alien” as we now know it. You have to wait till the end of the century for that. An then it was applied to the Chinese. So the writers of the amendment wanted to be sure the right to “Due Process” was everyone right, citizen or not.
But the fight over “Due Process” didn’t stop there. In the era of “Jim Crow” many many people, Black, Asian, Jewish were given “Due Process” but it was not the “Due Process” given the local “white folk”. It was what call Pro-Forma, in form only. It was not till the 1950-60s and the civil-rights movement did the courts take notice of just how badly “Due Process” being abused. But lets not stop with history, lets look at how it is done in the 21st century.
Just take a look at the trials in Russia. It is truly something to behold. It is even more so when you take in consideration the arrest rate. So next time you want to whine about all those “Criminals” getting away with something, just stop and think how well you would fare if you were stop by someone for being a “Criminal”.