///\\\///\\\///\\\

Granting maximal rights to all citizens would have a high cost in terms of safety, while denying those rights would have a high cost in terms of freedom. So what does America do? It does both: it formally grants rights to all, but systematically denies them to blacks and the poor. White, wealthy America gets maximal freedom and maximal safety, and 'sidesteps the difficult question of how much constitutional protection we could afford if we were willing to ensure that it was enjoyed equally by all people.' ... Ever since the Alien Act of 1798, America's first impulse when faced with a foreign threat has been to restrict the rights of immigrants. The attraction of such measures is similar to the attraction of the dual system of criminal justice. It is 'a politically tempting way to mediate the tension between liberty and security. Citizens need not forgot their rights' in order to be--or to feel--protected. Noncitizens forgo theirs, and because they 'have no direct voice in the democratic process by which to register their objections,'  few people complain.