Mullin v. Doe · ¶117

Perhaps for these reasons, this Court has never subjected even express racial classifications in immigration laws to scrutiny under the Due Process Clause. While foreigners have long been able to claim constitutional protection from racial discrimination by States, see Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 368–369 (1886), they have never been guaranteed a right to immigration status or citizenship based on equal protection principles, even when these laws were openly discriminatory, see Act of May 6, 1882, ch. 126, 22 Stat. 58–59 (severely restricting Chinese immigration); Ta kao Ozawa v. United States, 260 U. S. 178, 192–193 (1922) (“In all of the Naturalization acts from 1790 to 1906 the privilege of naturalization was confined to white persons (with the addition in 1870 of those of African nativity and descent),” and legislation up to 1922 had not changed that restriction). Congress…

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