Just a Reminder: It is Wrong to Call an Illegal Immigrant an Undocumented Immigrant
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here. Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]
It’s not only wrong on the principle that it is a euphemism (i.e. bull____), but because its actually misleading because very often they have plenty of documents:
President Obama’s accused drunken-driving uncle — who was busted after a near collision with a Framingham cop — has had a valid Social Security number for at least 19 years, despite being an illegal immigrant ordered to be deported back to Kenya, the Herald has learned.
The president’s 67-year-old uncle, Obama Onyango, has had a valid Massachusetts driver’s license and Social Security number since at least 1992, said Registry of Motor Vehicles spokesman Michael Verseckes.
By the way, the Obama administration has said it wanted to deport the criminals aliens. Will this apply to Mr. Onyango?
(Of course, deportation without actual border control is an exercise in futility, but I digress…)
Via JWF, who has some thoughts of his own.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
re the “illegal/undocumented” gambit…
For various reasons, I have cause to discuss, with some frequency, Orwell’s treatment of the relationship between politics and language. I often have to remind my interlocutors that, at least from the perspective of politics and the English language as we experience them at present, the oppressive structure imagined and proposed in “1984” is not a conjecture, and it is not a fantasy.
It is quite real, and it is happening right now, at this very moment, directly before your own eyes. Illegal. Undocumented. Think of it. Think of the motives.
The funny thing (well it’s more grim than funny) is of course that the overwhelming practitioners of this colossal fraud and crime against language and reason are from the Left, even as those on the Left whine and squeal about say Fox News and deliberately point fingers in the wrong direction. They’re at war with the rest of us, you know, actual war, they mean it. They’re just bristling with hate. It’s quite an extraordinary thing to see in one’s own country. One may as well look at the thing clearly and admit it.
Sometimes it’s almost too much for a thinking man to bear.
d. in c. (cae88c) — 8/31/2011 @ 6:32 amIt’s wrong to call them an illegal immigrant also. Not every foreigner in America is an immigrant. Visitors on vacation aren’t immigrants. Students attending school aren’t immigrants. People with temporary work permits aren’t immigrants. And people who have sneaked into the country are not immigrants. The actual designation of them by DHS is “illegal alien”. Anything else is a euphemism.
George (b67cab) — 8/31/2011 @ 6:54 amIt has been reported that Obama’s illegal alien uncle is now being represented by the same private immigration attorney who represented Obama’s illegal alien auntie Z. Does anyone else find it curious that a guy who reportedly works as a clerk in a liquor store can afford a private immigration attorney?
Illegal alien auntie Z was granted asylum, after years of ignoring deportation orders, on the ground that returning her to Kenya would put her life in danger because of her relationship with the U.S. president. My guess is the illegal alien uncle will use the same argument (he’s already using the same attorney). Does anyone else find it odd that none of the Obamas currently living in Kenya are being persecuted or otherwise endangered because of their kinship with Barry Obama, but somehow Barry’s U.S.-residing, illegal alien relatives would be in grave danger if they were deported to Kenya?
The never-ending drama of Barry Obama’s lawbreaking illegal-alien Kenyan relatives reminds me once again of the wisdom of the Founders in requiring that a U.S. president be a “natural born citizen” (i.e., a U.S. citizen born to two U.S. citizen parents).
AZC (1539a7) — 8/31/2011 @ 7:34 amThat’s not what it means, and you have plenty of reason to know it.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 8/31/2011 @ 7:35 amThe DoJ will get around to finallizing Uncle Omar’s deportation proceedings as soon as they rid the country of all of that illegal Indian Rosewood utilyzed by GOP guitar makers.
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks! (f8e76c) — 8/31/2011 @ 7:39 amIn other words: Don’t hold your breath!
“The president’s 67-year-old uncle, Obama Onyango, has had a valid Massachusetts driver’s license and Social Security number since at least 1992, said Registry of Motor Vehicles spokesman Michael Verseckes.”
Damn, is this a great country!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/31/2011 @ 8:43 amWow so are the anti-war hacks saying Obama doesn’t care about lifes in war?
Blasphemy!!!
Just a reminder I don’t give a crud if I offend these PC Namby-Pamby wimps.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 8:51 am==Damn, is this a great country!==
absolutely, daley–
opportunities abound — especially if one knows the right people and lives in state that looks the other way with respect to ah, small ethical violations related to citizenship privileges.
elissa (edcfac) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:06 amThen Anti-War activists except for a very rare few are only anti-war only when a repub is at the helm.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:14 amWonder when someone will ask Teh One about how many other illegal alien relatives he has here in the US? I bet Carnie would be epic funny trying to deal with that.
JD (318f81) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:21 amMaybe he has an illegal alien brother-in law named Agashabe Letmebeclear.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:22 amJD–Carney is looking less and less comfortable in his spokesmodel job as time passes. I fully expect that someday he’s going to upchuck right there at the podium as a nervous response to a question he knows he can’t answer.
elissa (edcfac) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:32 amDohBiden, have you gone nuts? Or, much more likely, somebody is socking you.
Anybody else see this?
Pious Agnostic (7c3d5b) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:41 amSorry.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:42 amI removed your last two comments from view, although you can still see them. Please review them and understand why they’re unacceptable.
This is getting ridiculous. Damn.
Stashiu3 (601b7d) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:48 amI apologize and don’t blame you.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:49 amTitle 8 of the U.S. Code refers to them as unlawful aliens. I say go with that.
509th Bob (58dde3) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:52 amAccepted sir. I know many of us have rough edges, especially on certain topics, myself included.
*cough**cough*(and JD)*cough* 😉
Keep it between the lines and it’s all good.
Stashiu3 (601b7d) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:54 amOk.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 9:55 amI have hard, sharp, rough edges.
JD (318f81) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:06 am😯
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:10 amReally? I’m not sure anyone has noticed.
*cough*
Anyone have a Halls?
Stashiu3 (601b7d) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:13 amThanks for letting us know the latest brain dead right-wing talking point.
/Charles Antoinette let them get off my website and eat it too
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:15 amd. in c., you are absolutely correct. “Revenue enhancement” and “kinetic military action” are two other recent terms. I wonder how long it will be before “Republican” means evil, greedy person..uh…or “Conservative” means racist…or “Tea Party” means a group of fascists…that too, eh…
This may be a question that people will just roll their eyes at, but pardon me…how does one get a SS# if an illegal alien? Did he once have a work visa, obtained a SS# and overstayed, did he buy it from some underground “spy-outfitter”?
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:34 amMD–Don’t know how they do it in your state or in MA, but this is how it’s done in Chicago. (Hint– it involved an alderman’s father’s “business”)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/264696/chicago_aldermans_father_released_placed.html
elissa (edcfac) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:42 amWe need to get rid of Obama.
DohBiden (d54602) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:45 amObama delenda est
Pious Agnostic (6048a8) — 8/31/2011 @ 2:18 pmPhony documents seem to follow Barack Obama around like Joe Blfsplk’s dark cloud. Obama’s own social security number was issued from a series assigned to Connecticut, a state where he never resided.
Additionally, in his first book Obama described his entry job at an ice cream parlor in Honolulu, for which he would have obtained a Hawaiian SS number as a condition of employment.
Perhaps the president’s 67-year-old illegal alien uncle, got his Massachusetts SS # the same shady why President Obama got his.
ropelight (1679c6) — 8/31/2011 @ 3:19 pmropelight – Any chance he might have needed a social security number to get a passport for his childhood travels to Indonesia?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/31/2011 @ 3:26 pm“Just a Reminder: It is Wrong to Call an Illegal Immigrant an Undocumented Immigrant”
If you’re President Golfsalot, can you just call them Aunt Teuti and Uncle Omar?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/31/2011 @ 3:28 pmUm, that Connecticut SS# thing has no real foundation. It’s pretty much free speculation.
Milhouse (ee8a5d) — 8/31/2011 @ 3:45 pmIn a fat pig’s eye, Milhouse, in a fat pig’s eye.
ropelight (1679c6) — 8/31/2011 @ 4:01 pmRopelight, it is simply not true, and has never been true, that SS#s beginning in 042 are reserved for people living in Connecticut. For numbers issued before 1973, it meant that the number was issued by the CT office; but there was no rule that one must apply in the same state where one lives. But for numbers issued since 1973 it’s even simpler; the first three digits are based on the zip code of the applicant’s mailing address.
If 0bama’s SS# was issued since 1973, then there are two possible explanations for his having a CT prefix: either whoever filed the application provided a CT mailing address (which need have nothing to do with where he or they lived); or whoever processed the application mistyped the first digit of the zip code as a 0 instead of a 9, thus making it a CT zip code instead of a HI one. 9 and 0 are of course right next to each other on a keyboard, and I’m constantly hitting one instead of the other, so it’s very easy to see how this could have happened. And that would result in the computer assigning an 042 prefix to his SS#.
Milhouse (ee8a5d) — 8/31/2011 @ 4:17 pmI agree with Milhouse that the SSN debate is just another Obama conspiracy theorist distraction. I loved the theories about him stealing it from dead people.
FIRE DOES NOT MELT STEEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/31/2011 @ 4:20 pmTechnically, a person who enters the US illegally is an Illegal Alien. Since entering illegally is a crime and could be considered an invasion, I personally call them Criminal Invaders. In no way, shape or form are they immigrants. An immigrant is a person who enters the country LEGALLY as my Scots-Irish and German ancestors did several generations ago… I have no idea (nor can anyone say for sure) when my Native American ancestors arrived. 😉
kay2the2nd (33fdd6) — 8/31/2011 @ 10:25 pmAround these parts, the term mojados works pretty well.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque (e6f5e4) — 8/31/2011 @ 11:23 pmDon’t pay your taxes, enter the country illegally, get out of jail early — or, if you’re a Black Panther, don’t even get prosecuted, sell guns to Mexican drug-runners . . .
They are the ones they’ve been waiting for.
Who knew that they were waiting for Don Corleone?
Icy Texan (b1b8ac) — 8/31/2011 @ 11:58 pmReally? According to which dictionary? You can’t just make up definitions to suit your preferences. The fact is that someone who comes to a country to live there is an immigrant; that’s what the word means. And it makes not the slightest difference whether the laws of his new country allow his entry.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 9/1/2011 @ 7:25 amOh, and “invasion” is another word that you don’t get to redefine because you feel like it.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 9/1/2011 @ 7:26 amOne other problem with “undocumented immigrant” is that there is another class of people who fit the description perfectly. A legal immigrant who can’t lay his hands on his green card is (until he finds it) undocumented, and he may be in a lot of trouble if someone in authority asks him to show his green card and he can’t produce it. But that is not the same thing as being an illegal immigrant or alien or whatever you want to call the other group. As others have already noted, many illegals are in fact documented, but their documents are fake.
To put it another way, someone who has been awarded a legitimate green card but can’t show it, because someone stole his wallet, or it was burned in an apartment fire, or he just plain misplaced it, is an undocumented (legal) immigrant. The term should be reserved for such people.
Dr. Weevil (17137c) — 9/1/2011 @ 8:18 amheh
Dustin (b2fb78) — 9/1/2011 @ 8:19 am😆
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/1/2011 @ 2:28 pmBeing a resident of asylum MA, believe me you take your life in your hands if you call them illegal immigrants.
J (2946f2) — 9/1/2011 @ 4:30 pmI prefer the term “immigration scofflaw”. It’s perfectly accurate, moderately prejudicial, and its usage tends to throw “no person is illegal” types for a loop.
John Reece (9dc1d1) — 9/1/2011 @ 4:44 pm