Drop the Euphemism: They're Illegal Aliens — Commentary

February 20, 2004
Mike Rosen, KOA 850AM Radio Host

Ayn Rand advised that if opposing factions appear to have irreconcilable differences, the first thing they should do is check their premises. A forthright statement of one's assumptions and objectives, in direct language, helps clarify arguments. Politically correct euphemisms contrived to placate hypersensitivities muddy the waters and disguise ulterior motives. The terminology tiff over whether to call illegal aliens "undocumented immigrants" is a case in point.

In a recent piece for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, columnist Rick Badie quoted several activists from Latino organizations that obviously have a dog in this fight. For Victoria Chacon, of the South East Hispanic Media Association, "undocumented worker" is the term of choice. She says, "I don't think it's illegal to come here, work hard, and live in peace. They come here for their family, risk their lives to find a better lifestyle." She adds that, "(Mexicans) have no choice" but to break the law.

I'm confused. First, she says it's not illegal; then she says they have no choice but to break the law. In fact, unauthorized entry into this country is indisputably illegal in spite of what Chacon thinks. Perhaps she meant to say she believes it shouldn't be illegal.

That's understandable if one's highest priority is the welfare of poor Mexicans. I have nothing against Mexicans - rich or poor - but, frankly, their welfare is not my highest priority, nor is it the responsibility of the U.S. government. If our immigration policy were subordinate to the "choice" of people anywhere in the world who desired to come here in search of a better lifestyle, we'd have a population of 2 billion.

Most of those "undocumented immigrants" would no doubt enjoy a better lifestyle than they had in their homelands, but it would come at the detriment of the 280 million American citizens who live here now. With such a tidal wave of immigration we'd have a lot less elbow room, a loss of national identity, and a massive burden of new social spending imposed on taxpayers. Since that runs contrary to our self-interest, I'm opposed to it - with no apologies.

Jerry Gonzales, of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials puts "undocumented immigrants" into two categories: foreigners who never got the proper papers or those who received them, but allowed them to lapse. Talk about self-serving semantic obfuscation!

He describes those who sneak across our borders in defiance of the law as having "never gotten the proper papers" (although many have forged papers). And those admitted into our country under a temporary work visa who refused to leave when that visa expired are deemed to have "allowed it to lapse."

Gonzales places the blame for 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens in our country on our "failed immigration policy." What Gonzales and other Latino activists, including Mexican President Vicente Fox, are really after is open borders. The principal "failure" with our current immigration policy is that the laws aren't being enforced. And that's just fine with Gonzales and company, second only to their first preference that we have no laws restricting Latino immigration.

Gonzales even stoops to playing the race card, equating the use of the term "illegal aliens" with "the N-word," as he puts it. He says it's "dehumanizing."

This is outrageous. Nobody's questioning the humanity of a Mexican citizen who intrudes across our border anymore than the humanity of an interloper of Aryan European descent. In either case, they've broken the law, which makes their status here illegal; and they're citizens of another country, which makes them aliens. Both terms are legitimate, clinical, objective, accurate and respectable, with precise definitions.

The N-word, on the other hand, is a hateful epithet, an indefensible slur directed at an individual solely on the basis of his race. Illegal aliens aren't victims, they're willful trespassers, and their race is irrelevant.

Semantic infiltration is the tactic of gaining advantage in a debate by maneuvering the other side into using your self-serving terminology. Well, I'm not biting. We don't call a burglar an "uninvited visitor," or a bank robber a customer making an "unauthorized withdrawal." Let's start by calling illegal aliens what they really are, then let's do something about it.

Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA.

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