Illegal vs undocumented

[Arizona Iced Tea]

https://twitter.com/MAGAIncWarRoom/status/1766581481692954676

WHY can Dems never say illegal immigrant instead of undocumented?

[emailking]

In an interview today that will air later, Biden said he shouldn't have used the term "illegal" referring to Riley's killer, said he should have said undocumented. Asked if he regrets using that term, he said yes.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I don't particularly care in this instance relating to one being an obvious criminal, but Biden still has to keep some Democratic immigration advocates in his favor.

In fact, he's lucky they aren't more upset about the proposed Senate bill. So if this is what it takes to calm them, it really isn't a big deal.

[TheReckoning]

There is literally nothing offensive about “illegal immigrant.”

[emailking]

There is literally nothing offensive about “illegal immigrant.”

He said "illegal" though as a noun, not illegal immigrant.

[HisGrace]

The thing is he's talking about a murderer. I don't really care what anyone calls him or if you're being polite to him. That's just PC crap, **** that guy. Like when some people got bent out of shape because Willie Horton didn't like being called Willie. Well I bet the kid he killed didn't like getting thrown in a dumpster to bleed to death either.

This isn't like people getting mad because you called asylum seekers or guest workers "illegal".

[Rand]

I call them strays.

[DrScholl]

TRANSLATION: WHY DON'T WE JUST CREATE CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND KILL ALL ILLEGALLS!

In all seriousness no Democrat should be using right-wing terminology and that what "illegal" is. It's not even grammatically correct and you'd think the people always screaming about everyone speaking English would be for using proper English.

[NYDem]

I really don't give a sh**t about the terminology. Illegal immigrant, undocumented migrant; who cares. The policy is what actually matters.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

I live by a simple rule of thumb. If a group says they don’t like being something I don’t call them that

[Fuzzy Bear]

The thing is he's talking about a murderer. I don't really care what anyone calls him or if you're being polite to him. That's just PC crap, **** that guy. Like when some people got bent out of shape because Willie Horton didn't like being called Willie. Well I bet the kid he killed didn't like getting thrown in a dumpster to bleed to death either.

This isn't like people getting mad because you called asylum seekers or guest workers "illegal".

The majority of Democrats have no empathy for Laken Riley's family.  They have no empathy for any of the Angel Moms and Angel Dads whose children have died at the hands of illegal aliens.

Jose Ibarra isn't just an Illegal Alien; he's a documented Criminal Gang member.  In an immigration system where the President was committed to enforcing the laws, he would not have been allowed into America in the first place.  If the Democratic Party were a party that did not tolerate Sanctuary Cities, Ibarra would have been in custody after his arrest in New York.

I have had two employment stints in Florida's prisons as a substance abuse counselor, and I learned something about prisoner Gain Time when I was there.  One thing I learned was that it was a big deal to get it wrong.  If a prisoner was let out too late, he could sue the state and win.  If a prisoner was let out early and committed an illegal act, it could be construed as negligence on the part of the state that the person was improperly freed.

https://nypost.com/2024/03/08/us-news/migrant-charged-with-murdering-laken-rileys-easy-path-to-us/

The story reflects how Biden's DHS mismanages the border, and on the WILLFUL negligence of staff in Sanctuary Cities who failed to detain Ibarra for ICE.  It's not too much to hope that the advocates of Sanctuary Cities will see their role in this tragedy and simply say, "We're sorry, and we're reversing course!".  That would require a heartfelt humility not found in politics  If Joe Biden is getting flak; it's not because he mispronounced Laken Riley's name; it's because he doesn't care one whit about the Riley family.  

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

TRANSLATION: WHY DON'T WE JUST CREATE CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND KILL ALL ILLEGALLS!

But... who would hyper-wealthy Republican Presidential candidates find to do their landscaping?

[lfromnj]

I live by a simple rule of thumb. If a group says they don’t like being something I don’t call them that

“Fascist have meeting with fellow fascists”

[The Economy is Getting Worse]

I am doubtful that ads or the campaigns matter much anyway. The respective Presidential records matter much more.

[YE]

He shouldn’t have apologized.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I live by a simple rule of thumb. If a group says they don’t like being something I don’t call them that

So you agree with not using "Latinx"?

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

I live by a simple rule of thumb. If a group says they don’t like being something I don’t call them that

So you agree with not using "Latinx"?

Yes? I’ve never really been in favor of it but I don’t have a blood feud with the word

[Horus]

He shouldn’t have apologized.

[Ferguson97]

"Illegal immigrant" is fine. "Illegal" is not. There is a difference.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

He shouldn’t have apologized.

Why not? He offended a decent chunk of his base and it’s a very easy thing to make it better.

[VBM]

He shouldn’t have apologized.

Why not? He offended a decent chunk of his base and it’s a very easy thing to make it better.

Because it’s terrible optics given the context. It’s like when progressives freaked out when people misgendered that trans school shooter

[Ferguson97]

Because it’s terrible optics given the context. It’s like when progressives freaked out when people misgendered that trans school shooter

Misgendering anyone is wrong, no matter what they did (and there's also the fact that it would literally be inaccurate reporting to misgender). Like come on, no one is suggesting that the trans shooter or the undocumented murderer be let go. They should both be in prison for the rest of their lives. But the only reason to deliberately misgender the shooter or call the undocumented murderer an "illegal" is because you want a socially acceptable excuse to vilify the groups that they are a part of.

Would you use the n-word to describe a Black criminal?

[GeneralMacArthur]

This whole thing feels like pettifogging and really is not worth getting worked up about one way or another.

It's not denegrating at all to say someone is an "illegal immigrant."  It is accurate and, furthermore, there is no better way to describe it.  They are in this country illegally.  We are at a point right now where a lot of these people are technically here legally because they are abusing the loophole in our asylum system where you claim asylum and get to stay in the country for years while awaiting trial for your obviously fraudulent claim.  So the line between legal and illegal is blurry, but in my eyes, that kind of abuse of the system still makes it valid to call them illegal immigrants.  They aren't legally supposed to be here and they know it.

Calling someone "an illegal" is more insulting because it implies that their illegal status is what defines them, like it's their race or something.  But it's really not that bad.  Most people just say it as shorthand for "illegal immigrant" because the extra "immigrant" takes too long to say.  Like we all know what it means.  The "no human is illegal" thing is just so dumb.  Nobody's saying it's illegal to be a human, and you know it.  But there are many humans who are illegal immigrants.

"Undocumented immigrant" is also really dumb.  In many cases, they are documented.  We know they're here illegally-ish but they stay anyway because of backlogged asylum courts -- an issue Biden is trying to fix over Republican opposition.  But also the crux of the issue is just obviously not whether or not they're documented.  It makes it sound like they're immigrants whose presence here is totally legal and valid and the only issue is that they're not documented.  It's like if you were to say "don't say 'illegal immigrant', say 'brown-haired immigrant'."  Like yes I'm sure many illegal immigrants have brown-hair but you are picking a totally unrelated adjective to supplant into the term to try and obfuscate the conversation.

[henster]

He should've just said "Illegal/undocumented I don't care about the terminology he's a criminal, I care about passing the border bill so we can stop this from happening again" boom, easy. These same people criticizing him were the same ones who thought decriminalizing border crossing & defunding ICE were winning messages in 2020.

[DaleCooper]

"Illegal immigrant" is fine. "Illegal" is not. There is a difference.

Not really, that's just more liberal word games.