When Is a Criminal Not REALLY a Criminal? When the Criminal Is an Illegal Immigrant
5th July 2012
When you label someone an “illegal alien” or “illegal immigrant” or just plain “illegal,” you are effectively saying the individual, as opposed to the actions the person has taken, is unlawful. The terms imply the very existence of an unauthorized migrant in America is criminal.
That’s because it’s a fact. If you are in this country contrary to the law, you are illegal and a criminal. That’s just a fact. Anyone who objects to being called an illegal immigrant can avoid the whole problem by STAYING HOME. It’s not hard.
In this country, there is still a presumption of innocence that requires a jury to convict someone of a crime. If you don’t pay your taxes, are you an illegal? What if you get a speeding ticket? A murder conviction? No. You’re still not an illegal. Even alleged terrorists and child molesters aren’t labeled illegals.
That’s because there’s a difference between what you are and what you are labelled. If you commit a crime, you are a criminal, whether or not you are ever convicted of that crime. Our courts have a presumption of innocence based on the legal effect of their proceedings, not on the existential nature of what you do. If you murder somebody, you’re a murderer, whether or not you ever get convicted — or even accused — of the crime.
This is the sort of intellectual dishonesty that lawbreakers — and those who support lawbreaking — perennially use to try to weasel their way out of the consequences of their lawbreaking. If you don’t like the law, have it changed. If you can’t get it changed, then you aren’t entitled to work your way around it by attempting to pervert the language.