“Illegal Immigrant” Is the Real Euphemism

illegal, n. A term used by descendents of European immigrants to refer to descendants of Indigenous Americans.

Is Senator Chuck Schumer taking his talking points on immigration from far-right anti-immigrant websites?

Last week, Schumer (NY-D) gave reporters an indication of the administration’s rhetorical strategy as Congress prepares to draft immigration reform legislation.  From the Washington Post:

Schumer said legislation should secure control of the nation's borders within a year and require that an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants register with the government and "submit to a rigorous process to convert to legal status" or face immediate deportation. Rejecting the euphemism "undocumented workers," he said: "Illegal immigration is wrong -- plain and simple."

McClatchy described Schumer’s comments in similar terms:

Schumer said Democrats no longer can afford to use soft, euphemistic language about illegal immigration.

"When we use phrases like 'undocumented workers,' we convey a message to the American people that their government is not serious about combating illegal immigration, which the American people overwhelmingly oppose."

So either Senator Schumer himself used the word “euphemism” to describe the phrase “undocumented workers,” or two media outlets did in describing his comments.  Regardless, his message is clear.  According to Senator Schumer, “undocumented” is a misleading term, and he intends to be straight with the public by using accurate language.

But Senators and their speechwriters rarely construct their own arguments from scratch.  So where did this meme come from?

The top result in a google search for “undocumented” and “euphemism” right now is a blog post about Schumer’s recent remarks. But the second and third results go to far right-wing nativist websites VDare and 24Ahead (formerly Lonewacko).  From 24Ahead:

Is “undocumented immigrant” a euphemism?

Yes, it's just a politically-correct way of saying the legally correct term: "illegal alien". They're "aliens" - people who are citizens of some other country - and they're here illegally.

The post goes on to quote a thinly-sourced portion of the nativist site illegalaliens.us (scroll to the bottom) which argues that "illegal alien" is a more accurate term than “undocumented” or “out of status,” but doesn’t bother to cite to any case, statute, or legal document.

I’ve often seen in comment threads on immigration stories or blog posts the assertion that the terms “undocumented” or even “illegal immigrant” are politically correct euphemisms for the legally correct term: "illegal alien."  This is the meme that Schumer picked up on last week.

Unfortunately for Schumer and the nativists, the meme is wrong.  “Illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant” are not recognized terms of immigration law.

"Alien" is a legal term defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act and used in immigration court and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decisions day in and day out.  "Illegal alien" and “illegal immigrant” are not.

Conservative legislators wrote federal legislation in the 1980s and 1990s that uses the term "illegal alien," but most of these laws are not immigration laws, they deal with eligibility for public benefits and reimbursement of states by the federal government for incarcerating immigrants.  And this was part of an effort to give credibility to the term.

The term "illegal alien" itself makes two brief appearances in the INA: in Sections 280 and 286, both dealing with accounting arrangements among the federal agencies.  The term, though, is not defined in the INA and is not part of the terminology used by immigration judges and lawyers to communicate with each other about a person's immigration status during the course of removal proceedings (now there's a euphemism for you: "removal").

"Illegal alien" is an incoherent term from the standpoint of immigration law.  It assumes the thing that is to be proven: status under the immigration laws.  Immigration judges, the BIA, and even ICE attorneys don't use it because it is meaningless in the context of immigration proceedings.

The point of having a legal process to determine immigration status is to exhaust claims and defenses in an adversarial setting.  A person who crossed the border or overstayed a visa might have a valid asylum claim, could qualify for discretionary cancellation of removal, might have a current family-based or employer-sponsored petition, may have been the victim of a serious crime in the U.S., might have had grandparents who immigrated back when immigration from within the Western Hemisphere was much less restricted, might have been the victim of domestic violence, or could even be a citizen through their parents without having realized it.  In removal proceedings, an immigration judge must review all allegations made by the government and claims for relief made by the respondent before coming to a decision as to whether or not the respondent should be deported under applicable immigration laws.

Using the term "illegal alien" waves away that whole legal process and assumes a predetermined result: guilty, lawbreaker, criminal.  That is why restrictionists favor the term, not because it is legally accurate.

Immigration restrictionists know that language matters, which is why they have pushed so hard to discredit accurate descriptors and inject their preferred terminology into the discourse on immigration.

Representative of this effort is the site referenced above, Illegalaliens.us.  In addition to “undocumented,” the site lists other supposed euphemisms for illegal aliens, including “foreign students,” “residents,” and “Mexicans.”  The site also lists “possible euphemisms” such as “Hispanics,” “Latinos,” and “Spanish speakers.”

It may come as a surprise to the millions of Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens, myself included, to learn that we are actually illegal aliens, or to the millions of Latin@ citizens living in the U.S.  Likewise, the 100 million Mexicans in Mexico may not realize that they are living euphemistic lives south of the border.

Deborah Howell, former ombudsman for the Washington Post, got snowed on this issue by a State Department officer who even told her that “he was not speaking for the State Department” when giving her his legal analysis.

On terminology, Chip Beck, a State Department officer and former U.S. consul, believes it's important to use "illegal alien." Beck, who said he was not speaking for the State Department, said, "Foreign nationals who come across the border without papers or who overstay their visa are deemed 'illegal aliens.' Those are the legally correct terms."

Beck may deem them to be “illegal aliens,” but the legally correct term is “alien.” He continued:

"The correct terminology is not derogatory but carries precise meanings under law." He sent a copy of the federal law [ed.: looks like a broken link from the problematic USCIS website] that says: "The term 'alien' means any person not a citizen or national of the United States."

So let’s be precise, then.  “Illegal alien” is a nonsense term in the context of U.S. immigration law.  It is not defined anywhere in the INA.  It’s no more accurate than the terms I prefer: “undocumented” or “unauthorized,” [ed.: link fixed] which also appear in the INA.  In my experience, you are much more likely to hear the terms “entered without inspection” or “out of status” come out of the mouth of an immigration judge than “illegal alien.”

Now somebody just needs to let Chuck Schumer know he should be getting his immigration analysis from the Sanctuary or AILA, not from Lonewacko and Steve Sailer.

Next up: How did the term “Native American” go from describing this to describing this?