Illegal aliens

Growing up in the ’90s, I remember when foreign citizens entering America were called “illegal aliens” on every news channel. “Illegal”, in that they entered our country illegally, and “aliens“ because they were of a foreign nation. Makes sense, right? It’s succinct and exact.

Over the years, our language has been weaponized and purposefully obfuscated to belie truth. No longer do some, or most, refer to the poverty-stricken masses trespassing our northern and southern borders as “illegal aliens”. It’s much more politically correct and sensitive to call them “undocumented migrants”.

If one was ignorant to propaganda and its implementation through semantics, one might think, “Undocumented migrants doesn’t sound so bad. They lost their ID or passport and they’re just coming here to pursue the American Dream. Everyone deserves a chance at a better life, right?” They would be wrong.

“Undocumented” minimizes the legal repercussions of entering a nation illegally. There are ZERO – count them – ZERO countries on Earth without an immigration policy. I’m not going to dig into the specifics of countries with the least restrictive policies, because that would be exhaustive.

The word “policy” itself means a written contract or legal framework. If something hasn’t been codified, it means no such policy exists. There’s no policy for how many cubic feet of air each human can inhale. There isn’t policy for how many times a human may defecate daily. By contrast, if a policy exists, then there’s at least one codified process, procedure or restriction to allow -whatever- action.

Since zero countries have “open borders”, then every country has at least one line of legalese to allow immigration. If that singular policy isn’t followed, then those immigrating are illegal. Hence, “illegal” alien.

“Migrant” is much more simple. Which sounds more threatening? “Migrant” or “alien”? “Alien” invokes fear of the unknown, unfamiliar and undesired. Open border advocates know “migrant” simply sounds like a person traveling. “They’re just migrating. What’s the big deal?” Any citizen who has moved two towns over is technically a migrant. We also call those people “transplants”.

Someone who legally moves from the US to the UK is a migrant, also. However, the implication is that migrant did so legally, because if illegally, they’re an illegal alien. In many countries, “migrant workers” designates a class of foreign-born individuals who migrate to work temporarily or seasonally, then return home to their country of origin after the work is completed. Seasonal fruit-pickers from Mexico meet this LEGAL definition.

The connotation of “undocumented migrants” is much more palatable and persuasive to the uninformed masses than the denotation of “illegal alien”.

When I’m President, I will sign an executive order to allow unrestricted immigration of every thin, attractive woman worldwide. It will be called the Berlusconi Bungabunga Bill.