Some Disconnected Thoughts on Immigration

1.

Calling illegal immigrants "undocumented" makes it sound as if there is merely a technical problem with their papers not being in order. This may be desired or desirable--but it is not the case. They are illegal. I think the analogy is supposed to be that of changing from from a pejorative to a neutral term. But "illegal" is not a pejorative way of saying "undocumented." It is objectively different--and more accurate.



2.

I have a good deal of sympathy for most people who are here illegally. Most have come for no nefarious purpose, but merely to work. And by our lack of serious enforcement, over several decades, of immigration laws both in terms of stopping people from coming and of preventing businesses from employing them, we have made coming here illegally seem more like part of a game than a criminal act. So now many have been here for years or decades, mostly as decent members of their communities and as cheap and docile labor for our business enterprises. Thus many now have deep roots here. They are enmeshed in networks of family and friends, some of whom are legal, some not.