Well, yeah, but the joke wouldn’t work except for the word “alien”. This tells us that “illegal alien” was a recognisable term at the time, but not necessarily that it was the dominant or most common term.
Note that I would not consider the terms “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant” to be the same. “Immigrant” implies intent to stay long term. Not all illegal aliens necessarily intend to stay all that long. There’s a lot of people who merely overstay their visas but still intend to return to their home country eventually.
Even many migrant workers might be people without visas who return home each year after the work dries up.
As others have noted, “illegal alien” is the legal term. “undocumented immigrant” is the propaganda term, to try and de-emphasize the fact that the person is criminally present in the nation.
Very much this.
The term’s been illegal alien for decades. “Undocumented immigrant” is a term only used in the last several years by people with a very specific political axe to grind.
The implication of the term is that they’re perfectly legitimate immigrants, who just happen to not have gone through the process. It also implies that the legality/illegality of the process is immaterial. It’s a lame euphemistic phrase to downplay the legality/illegality of immigrants by making it sound like it’s merely about paperwork.
Similarly, illegal alien is the term that’s typically used by the government- it implies a person from another country (“alien”) who has come here and is living without having gone through the steps necessary to live here legally (the “illegal”) part.
I’d say that illegal immigrants are a subset of illegal aliens- all illegal immigrants are illegal aliens, but not the other way around.
You shouldn’t just dismiss the rest of my post as I provided a cite. Illegal alien is not the term most used in US law.
When it comes to the law the legal term is alien.
In a few parts of the US Code the term “illegal alien” is used.
It has also been used in a few instances in SCOTUS rulings.
**In the US Code more often the terms “inadmissible aliens” and “unauthorized aliens” are used.
**
“Undocumented immigrant” is not a legal term.
The term “migrant” is a worker who moves from place to place in search of work. They may be citizens of the country in which they reside or aliens (not citizens).
The term “illegal alien” has been used at least for the past 50 years or more to describe an alien who has entered or remained in this country in violation of the immigration laws that permit people from other countries to move to and live in this country.
There is a big propaganda war conducted by both sides, with the left trying to paint violation of the immigration laws as not being illegal, but merely undocumented, and tries to paint the right as being anti-immigration when, if fact, they are just anti-illegal immigration. The right tries to paint all illegal immigrants as thundering hoards of murderous thugs whose only desire is to take away all that has made America great.
If there was a single issue responsible for having Trump as president, it is illegal immigration. If congress would do the job they were elected to do and craft laws that would solve the problem, the biggest single issue that is responsible for the current political state of affairs would evaporate. But, I have no hope for that. Too many on the left have gotten their power by promising that anyone who wants to come to this country will be able to, so taking a page from the NRA playbook, they will do everything they can to prevent any attempt to change those laws that would impose any restriction on immigration or even enforcement of current laws on the matter. The right, likewise, digs in so deep as to be heartless towards people who have little and really mean no harm.
To top it off, our leaders, on both sides, who should be working together to solve this problem are if fact working as hard as they can to widen the divide and make anyone who tries to find middle ground a pariah. The likelihood of someone to stepping in to unite the two sides and allow progress to be made is very low. This is a very dangerous game.
I think it’s fair to say both sides have a political agenda in what terms are used.
I understand that your cite says what you’ve bolded, but neither term is a fair substitute for “illegal alien” (which is a broader term).
An “inadmissible alien” refers to 8 USC 1182, which lists a variety of criteria rendering aliens “ineligible to receive visas and ineligible to be admitted to the United States.” A significant number of illegal aliens would not qualify as “inadmissible aliens” (indeed, many illegal aliens received visas and were admitted and then overstayed the visa). And, for that matter, there are a large number of aliens who are “inadmissible” who never become “illegal aliens” because they do not enter the United States.
An “unauthorized alien” is an employment law term and refers to 8 USC 1324a, which means “means, with respect to the employment of an alien at a particular time, that the alien is not at that time either (A) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, or (B) authorized to be so employed by this chapter or by the Attorney General.” So, this category includes all illegal aliens, but also legal aliens who are not eligible for employment.
So (unless I’m missing something), it’s inaccurate to suggest that these are the most commonly used terms to refer to illegal aliens (as a broad category). I don’t think there really is a clear statutory term that encompasses the category of “illegal alien.”
Edit: Rereading your cite, the expert says that “inadmissible alien” is closest to “illegal alien” because a person who enters the country illegal hasn’t been “admitted” under US law. I don’t think that claim makes sense. But I did want to acknowledge it.
You make some good points but the Right is anti-brown immigration. They are fighting to get rid of birthright, and want to get rid of the rights for legal migrants who are not citizens to legally bring their families over. Trump was also against allowing the “caravan” to apply for asylum. So, as long as the migrants are the wrong color, the Right are against them.
Since this has moved beyond definition of the term, let’s move it to Great Debates.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
The term “alien” has been used for years. Those of you my age may remember TV ads reminding people to renew their alien registration. My mother had to do it every year for decades. Liberal 1984-speak is just as annoying as when conservatives do it.
Well said. There is too much BS on both sides. The truth is that the US admits lots of immigrants, many or most of them non-white. Lot’s of non-white people want to visit and/or live in the US and if you arrive by air rather than walk across the southern border you must have proper documentation. There are a handful of countries from which you can visit the US without visas, but most people in the world need to go through a lengthy and expensive process to do so. It took a Kazakh friend of mine years to get a green card to live with her husband and child.
How we handle immigration is a difficult issue and both sides are using it as a political issue rather than working towards reform. I don’t relish open borders when their are 10s of millions of skilled workers willing to come to the US and work for lower wages than current residents. On the other hand, we need to be compassionate towards people being oppressed by their government or threatened by cartels.
Maybe the right thing to do is to work to fix the problems in Latin America so that people don’t have to leave. A certain level of immigration is a good thing. We should figure out what that level is. Just saying “come on up” is not a solution.
actually ive heard the term “undocumented workers” used a lot
That would be because you need certain specific documents to be employed, I presume. Starting with a Social Security number, and I assume the ability to prove if asked that you are either a citizen of the USA or have the “green card” or other visa allowing you to be employed. Those who do not have the necessary valid documents are therefore “undocumented” - usually because they are in the country illegally.
“Illegal immigrant” has also been misapplied to describe people who are awaiting adjudication of their asylum claim. These people are not violating the law if they arrived in need of protection (or claim to have need) and have presented themselves appropriately to the authorities in order to ask for legal asylum.