What Should We Call Foreign Nationals Who Don't Have Proper Documentation?
The Minneapolis Star Tribune had an interesting article this week about the proper phrases to describe foreign nationals in this country without valid documentation. The point of the article is that how we label those who cross the border does affect public opinion.
The newspaper interviewed a select number of people, and quoted their opinions. For excerpts from the article, keep reading. For the full story, click the link above.
To Dell Eriksson, they're "illegal aliens." 'Immigrant' -- as a term -- is someone here lawfully," said Eriksson, a retiree from Brooklyn Center who thinks the country lets in too many foreigners.
Nathan Thompson contends these people are "undocumented workers."The word 'illegal' conjures images of hardened criminals coming to the U.S. ... and that is completely false," said Thompson, a teacher who lives in St. Paul. "The phrases 'illegal alien' and 'illegal immigrant' appeal to base-level emotions and cut off debate."
The war of words is more than semantics, say researchers who study such matters. What you call these men and women shapes public opinion of them, and that in turn frames the debate over how to change immigration laws.
For example, if these people are "undocumented workers," the Senate's plan to create a guest-worker program so they can work here legally would seem to be the logical solution. But if they are "illegal aliens," the House immigration proposal that focuses on tightening border security sounds like a sensible approach.
The problem is, none of the descriptions is really accurate, said former U.S. Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner, now an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. "This is not a simple thing," Meissner said.
Many "undocumented" workers actually entered the country with documents, but then overstayed their visas, she said. And immigrants can be legal or illegal based simply on what country they're coming from.
Meanwhile, individual immigrants are not necessarily illegal, but there can be illegal immigration, Meissner said. Even the federal government can't make up its mind. The U.S. Census Bureau calls them "unauthorized immigrants." Other federal agencies refer to them as "illegal aliens."
Even the news media are divided on the wording. Fox News, for example, calls them "illegal aliens." Most major newspapers call them "illegal immigrants," although the National Association of Hispanic Journalists calls that term "dehumanizing."
Even Meissner grapples with wording. She said she has been using the terms "unauthorized migrant" or "unauthorized immigrant" -- but not exclusively. And she also uses the term "illegal" to describe the phenomena of immigration, and sometimes to describe people as well.
