And where do you think Silicon Valley is, or where YCombinator is based?

The future nation of California, whose independence campaign is supported by part-time YC partner and New Zealand citizen Peter Thiel.

I believe they may be making an oblique reference to the ACLU acting on behalf of immigrants this past weekend.

Of course, it's perfectly consistent to believe that the government of the United States of America does not sufficiently respect the civil liberties of non citizens.

Huh, what a weird point to make. If he were to actually look at the ACLU's mission, though, he'd see that there's nothing in it about only working to protect the rights of American citizens.

It does. American Civil Liberties Union.

It does. What do you mean by your comment?

People who have never been to America are not Americans.

It is the American Civil Liberties Union, Not the Union of Americans' Civil Liberties. 'American' in this context refers to the provenance of the civil liberties in question, not some sort of property interest. The more you know!

Clearly I didn't know we had a one world government.

If American liberties are a concept to apply over the whole world, the ACLU should be encouraging the whole world to a adopt the Bill of Rights and our Constitution.

An absurd straw man argument that reflects poorly upon you. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the word 'provenance' or the concept of an international policy.

Our Constitution contemplates the arrival of immigrants and indeed specifies that their should be 'uniform rules' for their naturalization. It also distinguishes between citizens and persons, granting some rights to the latter group and limiting others to the former.

The whole world is not a potential immigrant that gets American Privileges.

So in the US a lot of civil rights actually show up as restrictions on what the government is allowed to do.

Isn't it reasonable that we should seek to limit the actions of our government towards non citizens to those actions that are necessary or beneficial (either to US interests or to both parties)?

So for example, it may be reasonable to investigate the backgrounds of people that would like to visit the United States. But after such a reasonable investigation, I personally don't think the government should then be allowed to use those people as political props.

American liberties apply everywhere in the world where the US has jurisdiction. This definitely includes visa holders.

You could understand it as Civil Liberties in America. When the USA grants you permission to live here, and then takes it away midflight, then that's a problem with America, even if it is not a problem for "Americans".