'Illegal' vs. 'Undocumented': When language defines the debate

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Saturday, March 20, 2004 9:48 PM PST ∞

It's semantics. Whether one chooses to call those who come to this country without permission "undocumented" or "illegal," the label does not change the fact that these newcomers are deportable.

There are those who believe there are too many immigrants, legally and illegally, coming into the United States each year. Others say that immigrants enrich the fabric of our society and contribute with their labor to the nation's wealth.

Each side of the immigration divide believes that how the question --- Are there too many immigrants? ---- is framed will determine the outcome of the nation's immigration policy.

The semantic question is a quiet battle in the otherwise noisy and often vituperative immigration wars.

"Those in the (pro-) immigration lobby have realized that if they control the words, they control the debate," said David Ray, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based group that seeks to curb immigration levels.

Immigration authorities classify the more than 8 million people living in the country without proper documentation as "illegal aliens."

Ray and others who believe in stricter immigration policies insist that "illegal" is the proper label for those who break the nation's immigration laws.

To immigrant rights advocates, the term is a slur. They say the word dehumanizes immigrants and brands them as criminals, often without legal due process. It labels a person in a way that tax cheats and car thieves are not labeled, advocates say.

U.S. laws allow a category of quasi-legal immigrant who enters the country without papers ---- political asylees. Officially speaking, refugees are granted that status outside the U.S. borders, then allowed in. Asylees flee violence in their homeland and apply for political asylum after they arrive without documents. They are not, therefore, illegal, because the law permits such people to be here while awaiting a decision on their case.

"I refrain from using the term illegal," said Coleen Lassegard, an advocate seeking better housing for migrant farmworkers in North County. "I do not believe that the men and women who come to this country to work hard and try to better their lives are illegal."

The argument rages because immigration is not just about statistics and bottom lines. It is not about hard and fast rules or legal definitions. It is not about black and white. If it were, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was split into two agencies under the Department of Homeland Security last year, would not have more than 35,000 employees and a budget of more than $6 billion.

Language colors the debate. It peppers the pages of scholarly investigations. Readers are mindful of the language because they find clues, real or imagined, about the researchers' biases.

Many Latinos believe that the word "illegal" is racially charged either because of the context or the tone with which it is used. The word calls into question not just the abstract legal meaning, but often a deep-seated feeling of alienation or a lack of a sense of belonging.

"My father came to this country many times sin papeles (without documents)," said Silverio Haro, a graduate adviser at Cal State San Marcos. "I grew up with lots of family members stopping by our home in Fresno as a place to crash and rest up before they continued with their journey. These experiences for me have blurred the lines of who is legal and who is not, never mind the historical traditions and events regarding immigration that I learned in college."

With whatever the intent the word is used, Latinos often take it for granted, rightly or wrongly, that when the phrase "illegal immigrant" is uttered, it is not aimed at Russians, Canadians or Eastern Europeans.

"Clearly, it is only used to describe people of Latino or Hispanic ancestry and not other groups of individuals from other countries that are undocumented," said Joe Cordero, past chair of the San Diego Chicano Federation. "Furthermore, the term is denigrating as it reduces a human being to a perceived immigration status while implicitly suggesting superiority by the individual assigning the label."

While individuals privately make their own decisions about which term to use, organizations have begun to rethink their policies. Some large newspapers have begun to accept the term undocumented, leading conservative groups to charge that newsrooms are pandering to political correctness.

It is the policy of the North County Times to use the term "illegal."

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists recommends the term undocumented because the word "does not dehumanize ... in the manner that such terms as aliens and illegals do."

There are many terms Latinos use to describe immigrants. Some are endearing, others derogatory. Some are equal parts of both, but it is always an acknowledgement that there is no welcome mat for them.

"Truth be told, our household used to use the term mojado (wet) and alambrista (wire crosser) in describing folks," Haro said. "Back in the day, there was a difference in how people came across and for some reason the distinction was important. The use of the terms was not used in a derogatory fashion, but as adjectives."

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.