No One Is Illegal: Words As Weapons

        “Wet back!”, “Terrorist!”, “Chink!”, “Go back to your own country!”, “This is America, speak English!”  These are only a few examples of how hurtful people who think they somehow have more rights to be in the United States arm their tongues with.  If you’ve heard these ignorant words yelled at you at any point of your life, you have been presumed to not belong in this country.  Sharpened words have played their part in claiming the lives and freedoms of so many undocumented immigrants.  Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust Survivor declared, "You who are so-called illegal aliens must know that no human being is illegal.  That is a contradiction in terms.  Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but illegal?  How can a human being be illegal?" (Haque-Hausrah, 2008).  This dangerous term lends to the already hate-filled image that ‘illegals” are here to steal our jobs.  Dehumanization of certain populations and classifying them as somehow being illegal, will aid in this country's next genocide.  By building walls fueled on racism and hate and by viewing only people of color as being illegal. 

The reckless use of the term “illegal” is detrimental to the populations that are identified with these negatively loaded words.  Giving power to this false word when it is paired in describing someone causes harm to everyone.  Shahid Haque-Hausrath, Immigration Attorney, who is a representative of Border Crossing Law Firm P.C., wrote:

When one refers to an immigrant as an "illegal alien," they are using the term as a noun.  They are effectively saying that the individual, as opposed to any actions that the individual has taken, is illegal.  The term “illegal alien” implies that a person’s existence is criminal.  I’m not aware of any other circumstance in our common vernacular where a crime is considered to render the individual – as opposed to the individual’s actions – as being illegal.  We don’t even refer to our most dangerous and vile criminals as being “illegal.” (Haque-Hausrah, 2008)

By calling someone illegal, it places a negative connotation on the individual or the population they belong to.  If you call something bad, even though it isn’t, you’ll start to believe it.  If we’re taught that red is blue, and that green is black from infancy, you will argue with your entire being that you are correct because that what we were taught growing up.  People’s perceptions are their realities.  Not to say that either person is wrong, it’s only a different outlook.  Let us not lean on the crutch of “I was raised this way” and learn to speak and think for ourselves.  When someone is called "Illegal", they are usually people of color.  They come from all parts of this world.  From Jordan to Mexico.  When you think of someone being illegal you don't think of Europeans or people who are presumably Caucasian.  Try this simple trick.  Go to any web browser, type in, www.google.com and type in "Illegal Immigrants.”  The images you see are not of undocumented Canadians.    

"Stop Telling me you don't see color.  What I really hear is, “I don’t really see you as a person, nor do I care to hear about your experiences especially if those experiences make me feel guilty.” (Bowen, 2018).  Leolin Bowen, was a Psychology student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who urges the need to see color and the harm it does to someone who chooses to be “color-blind” when it came to seeing people and their cultures and value.   Seeing someone for who they are, the color of their skin and their culture is extremely important.  The more the general population chooses to ignore the fact that the ones they call "Illegal", are just as human as they are, the less they believe that their lives have value.  It is important to acknowledge that the very people you disregard are the same people whose culture you've appropriated and mutilated.  You can't enjoy tacos while shouting, "Make America Great Again!"  You can't have your hummus and pita while chanting "Send her back!".  America has always been great, because America goes beyond the borders of the United States.  America includes so many other beautiful, culturally filled countries which include Mexico.  

The racially charged political promise of building a wall along our southern border is vendetta against “Illegal” immigrants has more to do with the melanin in someone's skin and less to do with securing our borders.  The United States was founded for freedoms and liberties which we have somehow forgotten.  The words engraved on the Statue of Liberty seem to have dulled and faded into the background and miraculously resurfaced with a new meaning recently, so that we cannot be held in contempt.  “America will only embrace immigrants who can "stand on their own two feet" and "not become a public charge." In a subsequent interview, Ken Cuccinelli went a step further, saying the poem referred to "people coming from Europe." (Silverstein 2019)

"I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall," (CBS News 2016).  "Mark my words," he exclaimed!  These words heard repeatedly.  “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said in the same speech. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” (CBS News 2016).  “We have a problem in this country; it's called Muslims. We know our current president is one.”, (CBS News 2016).  The urgency that the President of the United States, has placed on the need of a wall at our southern border is less about safety and more about keeping those who he sees as being less valuable to him, out.  If this has made you feel proud or unsettled, then my job is complete.  There are two sides to this very tarnished coin.  

If this wall was about national security and keeping this country safe, then I could understand the need for it.  However, it is not.  If this was truly about national safety, then where is the hordes of people crying out for the northern border wall?  Where are the ICE agents searching for Canadians that have stayed passed their expired visa?  When the president planned raids by ICE agents, he does it with a specific purpose.  When the cities that were on his list released about 70% of them were closer to the southern border than the northern.  Meanwhile all this false propaganda about keeping our borders safe, you have towns like Sweet Grass, Montana.  It shares a border with Coutts, Alberta. Where the only way you'd know if you've crossed into Canada is a plastic marker in the ground and a dirt road.

Maria Espinoza, the founder and national director of the Remembrance Project and a member of Southern Poverty Law Center, argues that more crimes are committed by undocumented immigrants than U.S. citizens.  She argues for a more merit-based immigration system like those already in place in other countries.  She continues with, "We shouldn't be surprised when those who disrespect our immigration laws don't respect our other laws, either."  The need for public safety and national security is extremely important for the common good in the United States.  She is correct in saying that we should seek out people who will contribute to this country and that growing our economy is in our best interest.  Immigrants who have relatives that are born here are more likely to file and complete requirements for citizenship.  Espinoza claims that these individuals are more likely than others to become citizens.

Placing stigma on people and negative labels makes them guilty by association.  If we aren’t taught that crossing a street by any other means than using a sidewalk is illegal, then why are we taught that people seeking a better life or seeking asylum by crossing a border is illegal?  If we aren’t taught about the original genocide on these shores and how the pilgrims greeting indigenous people with guns, germs and rape; then why are we force fed false propaganda that all migrants are here to do the same to United States citizens?  By only picking certain people who have somehow made themselves more desirable for citizenship is like saying other people's lives have more value and that others are worthless.  Claiming that undocumented citizens commit more crimes than native born citizens is a ploy to keep the negative stigma in place so that U.S. citizens don't realize the truth.  Undocumented immigrants do contribute to the economy.  More than most at times.  By completing jobs other citizens do not want to do or don't have the skills to complete.  It's amazing how documented, undocumented individuals are.  Immigrants may not run this country, but without her immigrants, this country would not run.  "Sometimes you just have to turn the light on for someone who is paralyzed by their own fear of the dark" (J. Ybarra, 2019)

Important notes that have been expressed within these words are that being illegal is impossible.  Being undocumented however, is possible.  Dissecting the linguistics of a word can get to the root of the problem that is present here in the United States, when it comes to classifying immigrants.  Having disdain for a population while using aspects of their culture is deemed acceptable in the United States.  False claims and accusations fuel the fire from the individuals who accept the fact that Trump's Wall is about public safety. The face of "Illegals" are almost always people of color.  Understanding a fear that is implanted in the general population and how that fear has grown to hatred.

Dehumizing people and treating them less than they deserve, building walls to keep out fake threats, judging someones value on the color of their skin.  This will be the next great genocide in this country.  The fundamental truth is that nothing on this planet, especially a human being can be illegal.  People are organic matter and no matter the amount of a chemical which is present in their skin, no one has more value over another.  It is important to remember that if we do not learn from our fears, we are likely to always live in the terror of the unknown.  Knowing that no one is illegal will allow compassion and understanding to grow within us.  Learning about immigration, why people come to the United States and how they contribute to this great nation will minimize those internalized fears.  Instead of being terrorized by people who sit in seats of authority, we should learn to love our neighbors, regardless of language or the color of our skin.  An ancient Chinese Proverb says, “When the wind of change blows, some people build walls, others build windmills.” (Zhao 2019).

Works Sited

Maria. "Misguided Immigration Policies Endanger American Lives." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2019. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/VCOHNY639987297/OVIC?u=nhc_main&sid=OVIC&x id=f9632a43. Accessed 10 July 2019. Originally published as "Toward carefully controlled legal immigration," Washington Times, 22 Mar. 2018.

No Human Being Is Illegal - Elie Wiesel, Shahid Haque-Hausrath, 2008 www.nohumanbeingisillegal.com/Home.html.

Best Evidence Aside: Why Trump's Executive Order Makes America Less Healthy. Full Text AvailableAcademic Journal (includes abstract) Gostin, Lawrence O.; Hastings Center Report, Mar/Apr2017; 47(2): 5-6.

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Silverstein, Jason. “Trump's Top Immigration Official Reworks the Words on the Statue of Liberty.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 14 Aug. 2019, www.cbsnews.com/news/statue-of-liberty-poem-emma-lazarus-quote-changed-trump-immigration-official-ken-cuccinelli-after-public-charge-law/.

CBS News. “30 Of Donald Trump's Wildest Quotes.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 21 Mar. 2016,

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/wild-donald-trump-quotes/.