Redefining Terms
No More Illegal Aliens
By Daniel Muniz

I hate using any of the “politically correct” terminology that has so permeated our popular culture and I refrain from such usage as much as possible. I don’t mind employing euphemisms when they are appropriate for certain circumstances, such as a relative “passing away” instead of saying that he died. But what I detest the most are the politically correct terms that are designed to cover up bad behavior.

And by far the biggest offender today is the term of “undocumented worker.” That phrase is about as ambiguous as it is loaded with hypocrisy. The sole purpose of employing the term of “undocumented worker” by much of the press is to soften the harshness that “illegal alien” has.

The meaning of illegal alien is as direct as it is simple.

“Illegal” means that someone is breaking the law and there is absolutely no ambiguity there. If something is illegal, then it means that the rules were not followed. And it also implies that a punishment may be meted out to the offender. As a nation of laws, society doesn’t have a good impression of lawbreakers and of anything illegal especially since everybody else already has to follow all the laws themselves.

“Alien” means that someone is a foreigner who was not born in the country that they are currently in. America is a country of immigrants and we are a nation who wholeheartedly welcomes the people who want to come here so the word alien is neutral and it does not necessarily have a negative connotation.

Let’s combine both of these words together to get the term of “illegal alien.”

Now the meaning of that term is as blunt as it is honest because it means that an alien is breaking the law. All of a sudden, the neutral word of “alien” is now negative when the word “illegal” is attached to it and it should be because lawbreakers are generally not looked upon favorably in this country. But an illegal alien explicitly and unequivocally means that someone should not even be in this country and their very presence here is a violation of the law.

Since we are already a country of immigrants, an extra one is not going to make that big of a difference but in order for a foreigner to be a resident, he or she still has to follow the law. And since millions of people have already done so for generations, it should not be that big of a deal to play by the rules.

Additionally, immigration is not all that much different for just about any other nation on the planet. Even socially permissive countries like France have very strict immigration laws already in place and that government doesn’t just allow anyone to come over and stay indefinitely without permission. And in a country like Mexico where very few laws are ever enforced, that government also has very strict immigration laws and they even use their military to monitor and enforce the laws for anyone entering on their southern border.

So in other words, the United States is not the only nation that wants immigrants to obey the law when they enter the country. Just about every government has a set of rules for foreigners to follow.

And that is why I find the politically correct term of “undocumented worker” to be so offensive. That term strips away all of the legal and ethical implications. But it also covers up the bad behavior of someone who is refusing to follow the rules and refusing to obey the law that every citizen and legal resident alien has to follow.

So what exactly does “undocumented” worker mean?

Since I am already a citizen, am I now a “documented” worker?

You would look stupid in public if you tried to pass yourself off as such. But using the word “undocumented” to replace “illegal” makes it look as if there is only missing paperwork involved, regardless of the fact that more often than not that absolutely no paperwork for residency or citizenship has ever been filed. The meaning is somehow muddied like trying to return something at Wal-Mart but you don’t have the receipt.

So in other words, it is not really all that big of a deal that you are missing some sheet of paper or that part of an official document that got lost in the mail because it is only a bureaucratic mess instead of breaking the law.

Substituting the word “worker” with “alien” is just as insidious.

The word “worker” takes away the “foreigner” aspect of it and replaces it with a work ethic. And if you are a hard worker, then you must be a good person that is not breaking the law.

It is time to stop playing games with semantics and to stop casually redefining terms for political purposes. An undocumented worker is breaking the law every day he or she is illegally in this country and it is irrelevant if they have a job or not. If illegal aliens want to legitimately work in the United States or become a citizen, then there is a systematic process to follow that millions of “legal” immigrants have already participated in.

“Undocumented worker” may be a nice euphemistic term but it does nothing to take away from the fact that this so-called worker is still violating the law.

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