« 'Is the Pope Catholic?' | Main | One thought on the Bolton 'hearings' »

April 21, 2005

The semantics of illegal immigration

Read almost any story on illegal aliens and the MSM almost without fail refers to illegal aliens as "migrants" or "undocumented workers." The supporters and advocates of open borders engage in the war of words in an effort to reduce the public awareness that illegal aliens are breaking the law. The recent coverage of the Minuteman Project is a prime example of how semantics is used in attempts to give sympathy to criminals and criminalize law-abiding citizens.

In another example of this kind of mealy-mouthed sophistry is a fight over the wording on a billboard targeting McCain over illegal immigration and amnesty.

A national organization that campaigns against illegal immigration wants to post a billboard in Phoenix to object to Sen. John McCain's stance, but the owner of the board has rejected the message as "bashing" the Arizona Republican.

A national organization that campaigns against illegal immigration wants to post a billboard in Phoenix to object to Sen. John McCain's stance, but the owner of the board has rejected the message as "bashing" the Arizona Republican. ...

The most recent example was McCain's support for the so-called AgJobs bill, which died Tuesday in the Senate. The bill would have made an estimated 500,000 undocumented agricultural workers eligible for legal standing. ...

The group defines amnesty as "any policy that would release a class of illegal aliens from whatever the penalty is for violating U.S. immigration laws." In contrast, recent immigration-reform bills and their supporters generally refer to such forgiveness as "earned legalization," "earned adjustment" or "rehabilitation to legal status."

Nelsen said his group would pay to submit the definitional question to a certified board of mediators if McCain would agree to abide by the result.

But before the offer was even made, McMenamin said, "We're not going to get into semantics."

The McCain camp is not going to get into semantics?? But they are there right now! McCain has shown he is the master of semantics ... when campaign financing "reform" is anything but ... when he refuses to support a legal change to end judicial filibusters by making some mendacious allusion to 200 years of tradition and ignoring the requirements of the US Constitution.

I'm embarrassed to say I was a McCain supporter back in 2000. I have no idea what animates him, but it isn't interest in the rights of individual American citizens.

UPDATE on a related note on the semantic struggle, Digger's Realm reports that people opposed to a illegal alien hotline are accusing it of encouraging a "vigilante mentality." Hmmmm... I guess it's only vigilantes that call 911, or neighborhood watch, or drug-tips hotlines to report crimes in process, eh?

Sheesh.

Posted by Darleen at April 21, 2005 06:11 AM

Comments