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What is the best term to describe a person who unlawfully enters the US?

What is the best term to describe a person who unlawfully enters the US?

  • illegal alien

    Votes: 23 38.3%

  • illegal immigrant

    Votes: 18 30.0%

  • undocumented immigrant

    Votes: 6 10.0%

  • unauthorized immigrant

    Votes: 2 3.3%

  • illegal invader

    Votes: 5 8.3%

  • other (please state)

    Votes: 6 10.0%
  • Total voters
    60
Luna Tick

Luna Tick

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They used to always be called "illegal aliens," but now it seems many other terms have surfaced. What do you think is the best term that shows the most intellectual honesty?
 
Criminals??
 
Undocumented or unauthorized immigrant is the most finely articulated answer.
 
people.

.
 
"Illegal immigrant" is what first came to mind.

It’s what I usually use.

Sums things up and explains the majority of the factors involved in two words.
 
They are aliens whose presence here is illegal. "Illegal alien" is the most accurate term. An illegal alien who does not have a job is not an "undocumented worker", while there are millions of American citizens who are. A person can be an illegal alien without any intention whatsoever of immigrating to or invading this country, and alien invaders are a military problem to which our immigration laws do not apply.
 
persons seeking the American dream



we even have a statue with an inscription which reads:
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
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what makes my proposed expression incorrect?
 
The act of crossing the border into this country is a felony whereas being in this country without the proper documentation is a misdemeanor. So they are not illegal. Either way they are people.
 
pbrauer said:
The act of crossing the border into this country is a felony whereas being in this country without the proper documentation is a misdemeanor. So they are not illegal. Either way they are people.
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Yeah. They're not illegal aliens because they are illegal, they're illegal aliens because they are illegally alien, as compared to legal aliens.
 
Job stealing, tax evading, social system destroying, disease carrying, criminals seems to be the popular name for them nowadays.

It's kind of hard to call them "illegal aliens" since some of them have been here their entire lives since their parents brought them into the country illegally when they were toddlers or infants. Those ones don't exactly have any country to call their home. Some even pay taxes under fake social security numbers. Then you got others who are here when they can find work and head back to whatever country they came from as soon as they pick up a few thousand dollars.

It's a pretty mixed group of people. But it is such an emotional issue that people are going to pretend that they are all the same. If you were serious about it, then you would probably need 50 different names to describe the different type of people who are in this country illegally.
 
Luna Tick said:
They used to always be called "illegal aliens," but now it seems many other terms have surfaced. What do you think is the best term that shows the most intellectual honesty?
Click to expand...

Illegal alien or illegals for short is the most accurate and intellectually honest term for someone who is here illegally other than criminals or criminal aliens. They are foreigners whose presence in this country is illegally. The opposite of an illegal alien is a resident alien who is a foreigner that is here legally with a legally established residence in the US. Criminal is accurate because illegal entry into this country can be punished up to six months in jail and anything requiring jail or prison time is a crime. Words like undocumented immigrant, undocumented American, or just immigrant to apply to illegals are just terms invented by pro-illegals to deceive and hide the illegality of these illegals and to lump in immigrants with illegals.
 
The best term is "undocumented immigrant," because it is the most accurate descriptor. In America we consider a person innocent until proven guilty. Calling someone an "illegal immigrant" implies that they have immigrated in violation of the law. A person who has immigrated without documentation cannot be an "illegal immigrant" until they have been adjudicated as such. Until adjudication, their status as legal or illegal is indeterminate, and presumed innocent.

Calling someone who has immigrated improperly an "illegal" immigrant is incorrect because it prematurely imputes a legal conclusion that has not yet been established for that person. When you call an undocumented immigrant an "illegal immigrant," you are essentially convicting them without due process.
 
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Guy Incognito said:
The best term is "undocumented immigrant," because it is the most accurate descriptor. In America we consider a person innocent until proven guilty. Calling someone an "illegal immigrant" implies that they have immigrated in violation of the law. A person who has immigrated without documentation cannot be an "illegal immigrant" until they have been adjudicated as such. Until adjudication, their status as legal or illegal is indeterminate, and presumed innocent.

Calling someone who has immigrated improperly an "illegal" immigrant is incorrect because it prematurely imputes a legal conclusion that has not yet been established for that person. When you call an undocumented immigrant an "illegal immigrant," you are essentially convicting them without due process.
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The question wasn't about someone who is suspected of sneaking in illegally. It was about someone who definitely has done it.

You also can always use terms like "suspected" or "alleged" in front of an expression, as in "suspected burglar." These qualifiers could be used in front of any of the terms on the list.
 
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Luna Tick said:
The question wasn't about someone who is suspected of sneaking in illegally. It was about someone who definitely has done it.

You also can always use terms like "suspected" or "alleged" in front of an expression, as in "suspected burglar." These qualifiers could be used in front of any of the terms on the list.
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It doesn't matter if they have "definitely done it" or not. Even if they really are undocumented immigrants, they are presumed innocent until adjudicated guilty. What they did in reality is irrelevant, the presumption of innocence remains until the adjudication of guilt.

I guess it's reasonable to call undocumented immigrants "suspected illegal immigrants," but that's a stretch. There are millions of undocumented immigrants, and most are not going to ever be adjudicated guilty of illegal immigration. That's just a fact of life.

So you have two reasons, really, why undocumented is a better term. First it is a literally the most correct, and least circuitous, appellation. Second, calling somebody an "illegal immigrant" or worse an "illegal," especially if they have not been found guilty of unlawful immigration, is a bigoted slur.

So the term "undocumented immigrant" is both accurate and polite. Whereas the term "illegal immigrant" is both inaccurate and racist. This is a no brainer.
 
justabubba said:
persons seeking the American dream



we even have a statue with an inscription which reads:

what makes my proposed expression incorrect?
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yeah, and that statue was a gift from the French. let them take in all the illegal scum of the earth.
 
Pocho .
 
justabubba said:
persons seeking the American dream



we even have a statue with an inscription which reads:

what makes my proposed expression incorrect?
Click to expand...

I don't remember seeing anything about "Give me your pushers, your overloaded drug mules." But you can't trust text books anymore...
 
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Given my preference...... CORPSE works pretty well. CADAVER would be acceptable as well.
 
Guy Incognito said:
The best term is "undocumented immigrant," because it is the most accurate descriptor. In America we consider a person innocent until proven guilty. Calling someone an "illegal immigrant" implies that they have immigrated in violation of the law. A person who has immigrated without documentation cannot be an "illegal immigrant" until they have been adjudicated as such. Until adjudication, their status as legal or illegal is indeterminate, and presumed innocent.

Calling someone who has immigrated improperly an "illegal" immigrant is incorrect because it prematurely imputes a legal conclusion that has not yet been established for that person. When you call an undocumented immigrant an "illegal immigrant," you are essentially convicting them without due process.
Click to expand...

That would be easy.

"Let me see your green card."
If he/she runs, they're illegal.
 
Guy Incognito said:
The best term is "undocumented immigrant," because it is the most accurate descriptor. In America we consider a person innocent until proven guilty. Calling someone an "illegal immigrant" implies that they have immigrated in violation of the law. A person who has immigrated without documentation cannot be an "illegal immigrant" until they have been adjudicated as such. Until adjudication, their status as legal or illegal is indeterminate, and presumed innocent.

Calling someone who has immigrated improperly an "illegal" immigrant is incorrect because it prematurely imputes a legal conclusion that has not yet been established for that person. When you call an undocumented immigrant an "illegal immigrant," you are essentially convicting them without due process.
Click to expand...

Why not "alleged illegals", "alleged illegal aliens", "alleged illegal immigrant", "suspected illegals","suspected illegal aliens" or "suspected illegal immigrant if it was merely a case of innocent until proven guilty? Because the term undocumented immigrant does not in any shape or form have a presumption of innocence. The only reason for this term is so that pro-illegals can hide the fact that these people are here illegally, that they have basically took a crap on American sovereignty or have trespassed into the US illegally.
 
"Illegal alien" is a much better descriptor than "illegal immigrant" because immigrant assumes the person is planning on staying in the US permanently, when that isn't necessarily the case for every alien in this country illegally.

I will most likely still use "illegal immigrant" when I describe such a person though, since the phrase does cover most all of them, especially the ones that end up in most debates.
 
So many racists in this thread, so little time...
 
If being fed up with illegal immigrants make me racist, then I must be, hell I must have a klan outfit and a black man hanging outside. You know so much about me that I never wanted anyone to figure out.:cuckoo:
 
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