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Of course it's also very telling when people choose to use an incorrect term like illegal immigrant. Because of how often it is parroted and forced down our throat that we treat such an absurd statement as normal. (Not an attack on you. Just a comment on how natural it is even for myself to say that term without thinking) People aren't illegal. They may have crossed the border illegally. They're still immigrants whether they cross-legally or not. Calling them illegal immigrants and treating them as illegal allows us to dehumanize them easier. And enables the people abusing them to abuse them more.
They should be afforded the same basic guarantee and protections as anyone else. The same labor rights and expectations. Not forced to hide in the shadows. The people abusing them would change their tune suddenly if it cost the same to hire an immigrant as it did a citizen. And if we treated them with some basic respect and decency. We would not have to try to track them down all the time. Many of them would actively register and try to stay on good terms with the government. Making it easier for us to actually go after the few that are here for nefarious purposes.
When I say illegal immigrants I'm talking about the way they entered the country. Illegal is an adverb in this situation because it describes the way they immigrated.
In the future I'll try to use "illegally immigrating persons" so as to make this absurdly clear.
I know that. I said as much. My point was, regardless of how they got here (legally/illegally) they're just immigrants.
Crossing the border illegally isn't much different or more serious than jaywalking. Legally speaking. We don't categorize or call out people as jaywalking Americans. So why do we feel this burning need to categorize immigrants in that way? Because it benefits a particular group with far-reaching resources and power.
By feeling compelled to refer to them in some way as being illegal. We short-circuit a lot of other logical process when it comes to topics surrounding these immigrants. Is it our broken immigration system that is a problem? No it's illegal immigrants. Is it greedy conniving underhanded employers that hire illegal immigrants that are the problem? No we just stopped with them being illegal immigrants and therefore they are the problem.
I think you and I would both agree however that it is our immigration system. That is a problem. That it is the people taking advantage of them and employing them, that are the problem. But we are not helping them or ourselves by using the terms and language chosen by the abusers.
TLDR.
They're just immigrants. And nearly every last one of them would happily be documented and have legal status if our immigration system wasn't problematic and broken. Referring to them as illegal takes the onus off the system and places it where it doesn't belong. Does that make sense?