Him using the word "illegal" makes me doubt the impartiality...
To play language cop, "undocumented" would be more neutral...
To play language cop, "undocumented" would be more neutral...
Undocumented immigrant is far from a neutral term. They haven't just forgotten their documents, or oops! the government hasn't gotten around to documenting them. They are in the country when they aren't supposed to.
If you really hate the term "illegal immigrant", fine then call them unauthorized immigrants, but the "no person is illegal" slogan is just a motte and balley.
Again, motte and bally.
You also committed a logical fallacy:
> No person is illegal as borders are arbitrary
That's fallacious. All laws are arbitrary, as the GP pointed out, and you somehow failed to read:
> Speed limits are also arbitrary, enforced by other humans
So, it's factually true that borders are both necessary due to nature, and exist in the legal realm such that "illegal immigrants" is a factually correct label.
Just for reference:
8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien
Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts
Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
Words matter. Specificity matters. Dehumanizing propaganda matters.
A person who entered the country illegally is not incorrectly (even if roughly) abbreviated as an "illegal alien", since alien is a designation for "person of a foreign country" in this case. It's true this can be misused, but it's also true I don't think OP misused it or intended to, and even if it could be interpreted as a rough slight, I'd prefer we took the charitable stance, evaluated intent in context, and stayed out of semantics and focused on the issue (in this case whether such individuals receive funded health care benefits).
That's really it. If you disagree and think this was the time to call that out, that's ok, I just disagree and don't have anything more to say on it. Cheers.
You're only trying to say that it means "his humanity is against the law" to stigmatize people who care about law enforcement.
If the term "illegal migrant" offends them then that's a good thing, because you should be ashamed when you break the law.
When you call an illegal a "undocumented migrant" you're essentially downplaying the illegality of the act. It's just as bad as calling a rapist an "undocumented lover". You're de-stigmatizing breaking the law.