I was browsing through my Facebook-feed when I saw that National Review posted a link to the latest Goldberg-column. In it, Goldberg talks about how the Associated Press has decided to stop using the label ?illegal immigrant?.
As someone who is currently residing?in the United States on a?visa, I have some thoughts on the matter. But before I get to those,?here?s?a lengthy?excerpt from Jonah Goldberg:
It?s absolutely true that it is unfair to summarize a person?s life by his status as an illegal immigrant. Illegal immigrants can be fathers, mothers, artists, comedians, scientists, etc. But in a discussion of illegal immigration, it?s hardly preposterous to describe someone as an illegal immigrant.
Activists and others in favor of banning ?illegal immigrant? say the term tarnishes all immigrants. As Sergio Martinez, a 25-year-old resident of Detroit and a noncitizen, told the Michigan news site MLive, ?I definitely felt like it was very derogatory and created a stigma for immigrants.?
Well, maybe not for immigrants so much as for illegal immigrants, which is sort of the point, right?
In my experience, legal immigrants in particular respect the ?stigma? against illegal immigration, which helps explain why they came here legally in the first place. If I were to write about a ?pedophile football coach,? I suspect that very few people would assume I was stigmatizing all football coaches.
Unlike Mr. Martinez of Detroit I have never felt tarnished by the term ?illegal immigrant?. Why? Because I have gone to great lengths in order to follow all of the rules that I am required to meet in order to remain in legal status.
If there is a ?stigma? attached to legal?immigrants?I certainly haven?t noticed it personally (maybe it?s different in the?bastion of progressivism known as Detroit).?And as?Jonah Goldberg says, I welcome any ?stigma? that is attached to illegal immigrants.
What is of greater concern to me, is the?idea that?individuals who have entered the United States illegally?are being considered for?permission to stay?in the United States with minimal repercussions and a ?pathway to citizenship?. I understand that there might be some practical reasons as to why this ?solution? is being considered, but that doesn?t remove the fact that?it is inherently?unfair to those of us who have entered the country legally and have to comply with a myriad of rules in order to remain in legal status.
Some of us?decided to apply for visas and green?cards in order to accommodate the law while others?violated the law with their first action in the United States. These two groups are not the same and I have no problems with using ?illegal? in order to describe those who belong?to the latter.
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Source: http://www.therightsphere.com/2013/04/the-associated-press-and-illegal-immigration/
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