Court Decisions
In 1903, in Yamataya v. Fisher, the Supreme Court held that due process of law applied to a deportation hearing, and that an alien must be given "all opportunity to be heard upon the questions involving his right to be and remain in the United States." You can read a summary of the case and the decision here.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Méndez v. Westminster helped end racist policies in California’s school districts. It also was the basis for later Supreme Court rulings ending the "separate but equal" laws in the southern states. Thurgood Marshall represented Sylvia Mendez and Linda Brown. Marshall used some of the same arguments from Mendez to win Brown v. Board of Education. You read a summary of the case by clicking here.
On May 3, 1954, the Supreme Court in its landmark decision Hernandez v. Texas ruled that Mexican Americans (and all other racial groups) were due equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. You can read the decision by clicking here.
In Mathews v. Eldridge, 1976, the United States Supreme Court set forth a balancing test to determine whether administrative procedures conform to procedural due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. In order to determine what process is due, the Court called for a balancing of private interests, the probable value of additional safe guards, and the government interest, including the cost of the procedure. You can read the decision here and an interesting article that argues that Mathews v. Eldridge is the proper test for modern due process jurisprudence in the immigration arena here.
In June 1982, the Supreme Court issued Plyler v. Doe, a landmark decision holding that states cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education on account of their immigration status. By a 5-4 vote, the Court found that any resources which might be saved from excluding undocumented children from public schools were far outweighed by the harms imposed on society at large from denying them an education. You can read the decision by clicking here. A summary of the case can be read here.