Name calling

(It’s not what you think.)

I had a good laugh reading the terminology and rationale of a group studying illegals. But first, the set-up.

The term “illegal alien” actually comes from the law. United States Code, Section 8, uses “illegal alien” repeatedly.

The terminology that hurts my ears the most is “Undocumented American”, used by Sen. Harry Reid last summer.

Now, for the explanation as to why Pew Hispanic Center uses the term “unauthorized migrant.” Warning: You are going to believe I am making this up, but I am not. It appears on Page 2 of their document entitled, “Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics, June 14, 2005”

Here’s exactly why they prefer to call them “unauthorized migrants” rather than illegal aliens: “The term ‘unauthorized migrant’ best encompasses the population in our data because many migrants now enter the country or work using counterfeit documents and thus are not really ‘undocumented’ in the sense that they have documents, but not completely legal documents.”

For some reason that struck me as very funny.

And as a result of my personal research I have determined the fool-proof litmus test for any organization or website regarding the immigration problem. And here it is:

Those organizations that use the term “illegal alien” or (erroneously) “illegal immigrant” to describe them are anti-illegal.

Those organizations that use any other term are most likely pro-illegal.

Now, I’m going to sort through my wallet to see if I have “completely legal documents.”