"ACLU Backs Illegals Suing Maine For Welfare"
And appropriately so, given the fact that all persons are entitled to due process of the law, including those undocumented.
Indeed, one is not ‘illegal’ until such time as he has been found guilty in a court of law of entering the country absent authorization, or remaining in the country absent authorization.
Until that time undocumented immigrants are presumed to be innocent consistent with the rule of law, where those undocumented cannot be denied their right to due process for no other reason than being undocumented.
The right to due process is also afforded to those applying for public assistance, where one cannot be denied the right to apply for no other reason than lacking immigration status and without having been adjudicated concerning whether one has lawfully entered the country or not.
Once found guilty of entering the country absent authorization, the state is at liberty to deny an applicant public assistance because he has been afforded his comprehensive right to due process.