I have been watching many members of this site discuss the issue of immigration reform over the last few weeks and if there something that has let me dissapointed is how that debate has been framed by myriad members. The focus of the debate have been centered on the word: illegal.
The word illegal connotes a sense of wrongdoing and inmorality, but more importantly in this context it means that people who are here illegaly are perpetrators of crimes and hence should be arrested and deported. That in my opinion needs to stop. There is no such thing as an illegal person, that concept is inherintly discriminatory and ads a value judgement of a certain group of people, one that is not at all positive.
We as members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party need to stand strong against this type of retoric, that is used by right wing conservatives to demonize a certain group of individuals whose only fault is not being DOCUMENTED. What does it mean to not be documented, it means not having a piece of paper that allows you to be here. This concept of documentation to be allowed in a country is not an old concept. It was developed not that while back by the powerful interests in their respective countries that want to protect what they call, the nativist traditions of their countries.
Since the intent of labeling people who do not have that document as illegals, hence criminals, is to rally public support against that minority, we as progressives need to stand tall and say NO to those tactics. We are people who want equality for everyone, not just the powerful or the "legal"; we are people who fight for those who are invisible in society, who are oppressed in society and those 13 million who we label as illegal are HUMAN BEINGS, who work hard, who pay taxes, who want the best for their families and their future. They are here and they are not leaving. This is their home, this is where they live and have families and this is where they adapt themselves to all the other cultures who are already here.
Can we please stop calling them illegal, they are undocumented, all they need is a piece of paper to be "legal". No human being for the sake of being human should be called illegal. Being a human being is a not a crime.