Under federal law, immigrants who are in the U.S. as permanent residents enjoy many of the same freedoms that U.S. citizens enjoy. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, permanent residents also enjoy the right to be free from discrimination based on their race, ethnicity, and national origin -- in employment, education, health care, and housing (among other settings). Following is a discussion of basic rights and freedoms of permanent residents. Legal Alien rights don't differ much from our own. Some of their rights might be more restricted than ours but they are still there. The Supreme Court believes that the Constitution applies to all people in the United States while many people believe that the rights are only for Legal AMerica citizens.