The United States -- with people of color now the vast majority of its immigrants -- must be wary that citizen status does not become a proxy for racial discrimination, says a professor of law and Chicana/o studies at the University of California, Davis.

Kevin Johnson, who specializes in civil rights and immigration law, says the closer intertwining of immigration and color are challenging American society and its legal system.

Civil rights laws should be reviewed and crafted to consider whether discrimination against noncitizens should be barred, he says, and courts must discern whether discrimination based on citizenship amounts to discrimination based on race.

"If we're truly committed to fighting discrimination, civil rights protections must change with the times and address the needs of immigrant communities," Johnson says.

His article, "The End of 'Civil Rights' as We Know It?: Immigration and Civil Rights in the New Millennium," was recently published in the UCLA Law Review.

Congressional repeal of the discriminatory national origins quota system in 1965 marked the beginning of a much more diverse, far less European immigrant stream. Now Mexico, China, India, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic are among the leading sources of U.S. immigrants.

While the law tolerates discrimination based on citizenship status within limits, Johnson writes, it generally prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. For example, although a citizenship requirement for a job as a police officer might withstand legal scrutiny, a racial requirement would not.

Johnson notes that immigrants with the uniform and weapons of the National Guard were stationed at airports after the Sept. 11 attacks. As noncitizens, however, they have been barred from serving in airport security screening positions.