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Originally Posted by knox
many countries call them 'immigrants in irregular situation'.
'illegal' suggests criminal. someone's mere presence in a given territory cannot be considered criminal activity.
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the irregular situation is the lack of legal recognition....
not everything illegal is considered a criminal act, as far as i'm aware(and i'm not a us. lawyer i could be wrong) immigration issues generally fall under civil code and are not always criminal offenses.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ht...5----000-.html maybe that article of the legal code illuminates that. but as far i know they charge you more for monetary damage to the state than a criminal act. of course i don't think that's how it's seen, when i had border problems they definitely acted like we were terrorists....
anyways being picky about words seems unproductive when serious physical shit is happening at an alarming rate in arizona....do you know about sherriff joe? interestingly enough the problems in arizona are supposedly largely caused by a different breed of migrants "snow birds" in other words rich people from the northern states who spend a few months in arizona to avoid the cold, and decide they have enough invested in the place to vote for people who pass horrific legislations....look at this
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...gration-debate simply looking like a furriner will causeyou problems, with thousands of cops working in phoenix imagine how many times you could be harassed daily(!) and i don't know what happens to you if you left yr document at home before going out but i guess it's likely bad.
i think fussing over what words sound nicer is a politicians game and i don't really give a fuck about it,i talk the way people on the street talk. there was an issue here at one point that multicultural might be offensive and diasporic community is more inclusive, and i think only upper class white people cared.
maybe you don't as much exposure to united states media, but if were going to fuss over what people say i'd be more worried about the news exagerrating facts, or constantly repeating the "fact" that no one is bothered by illegal immigrants more than legal immigrants, maybe that's true in some survey they did of five douchebags who paid the DMV $200 for an english sounding name, but personally i've never encountered anyone(among furrners obviously) who cares how you came, and the tv stations spouting that shit here in cowtown certainly never asked my opinion.
my mother and i getting into the current country was a close call and if we had to do it the hard way i wouldn't be ashamed of the illegal title, it denotes a person who bypassed the law that separates the world with man made lines, that's not something to be ashamed of