The Power to Restrict Immigration and the Original Meaning of the Constitution's Define and Punish Clause

The Supreme Court and constitutional commentators have long struggled to identify the provision in the Constitution, if any, that grants Congress authority to restrict immigration. This article demonstrates that authority to restrict immigration is included within the Constitution's grant of power to Congress to “define and punish . . . Offenses against the Law of Nations.”

U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 10.