Canadian Down Under

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Illegal = Criminal?

I was just watching the news tonight and one of the top stories was the protest rallies happening in the States about the status of illegal immigrants. Now, I know very little about the entire issue, but what struck me was when they interviewed one of the protestors, they were quoted as saying, "I just want Mr. Bush to know we're not criminals."

Now correct me if I'm wrong but if something is illegal, it is not legal. And if something is not legal - does that not then mean that it's criminal?

I understand something of the plight of illegal immigrants in the U.S. and how badly they are exploited - and I do understand the reasoning that illegal immigrants are essential to the U.S. economy, I just think that illegal immigrant need to come up with a better argument. An illegal immigrant arguing that they are 'not criminal' is pretty weak...

And yes, I do expect to be summarily slaughtered for expressing such a conservative view on a blog.....

4 Comments:

  • I'm pretty woefully uninformed on the whole undocumented worker issue - especially coming from austin where undocumented labour has been fundamental to our building boom over the last 5-6 years. But i think that these are some of the assumptions that underpin the whole 'pro-side' to this issue:

    The vast majority of undocumented workers in the US come from Latin America, especially Mexico: countries whose economies are really dependent on, even hamstrung by, US trading practices. Because of the vast reach of the US and US-based MNC's into these economies, it is extremely hard for people to make a living, accrue capital and do things like save up for their children's education. Within this era of globalization, it seems profoundly unfair that free trade enables the US and US corporations to plunge their hands into foreign economies - and when some of the people they are affecting try to make their lives better (or even livable) in the US, America can conveniently shut it's door.

    A second assumption is more philosophical and human rights oriented in nature and concerns the question of what is criminality; is criminal behaviour something that is simply "against the laws of the land" or something that is genuinely and can be proven to be causing harm to the society where it is taking place. In a US context, the whole issue of criminality is particularly contested - there are a lot of things that fall in and out of the law that many people wouldn't say are "criminal" activity (e.g. the way that a huge number of sex acts are illegal in Southern states - "sodomy" may be illegal, but is it criminal?).

    In Texas at least, the whole debate is also set up against a historical backdrop of profound racism against Hispanic people, who have a long history (reaching back to the Alamo at least) of being considered enemy intruders, and who suffer from negative stereotyping and criminalization more generally (resulting in a vastly disproportionate number of Hispanic people in the criminal justice system).

    Sorry for the super long response; just wanted to write in to say something about how things look from austin, tx.

    p.s. yay on the bike :)

    By Blogger Lissa, at 12:03 AM  

  • Comment from New York City, where the immigrants runneth over... and thankfully so, because NYC couldn’t exist without them.

    In the US, the term illegal immigrant basically means undocumented worker. For the most part, it's not a matter of semantics. Many of the immigrants are here legally and they haven't committed any crimes; they just don't have Social Security Numbers, New York State Driver’s Licenses, US Passports or American papers.

    For example ... an American friend is married to a German man. They have a young German au pair in their home to care for & speak German with their child. The au pair is here legally. She can work. She can pay taxes. She can shop. In short, she can pump money into our economy. However, her rights are extremely limited because she's not an American.

    In another case, I know an au pair who has worked in this country (legally) for 12 years, but she too is considered an ”illegal alien” In both cases, the women haven’t committed any crimes and they certainly aren’t “aliens”. :) I think they both just want to be treated fairly, and they want a few rights in the land they now call home. (Same with the bartenders from Ireland, the waitresses from Ukraine, etc., etc. ... Mexicans aren’t the only immigrants in American cities.)

    By the way, random thought but ... the undocumented worked category is something that almost every American family was at some point. Throughout the years, very few people who came to the US from Europe, Asia, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and elsewhere had proper papers. Although the first migrants touched down on what is now US soil in the 1600s, passports and other immigration documents didn't come into existence until around 1914; and, they weren't commonplace until long after that.

    By Blogger Twanna A. Hines | FUNKYBROWNCHICK.com, at 3:34 PM  

  • PS: Pssst! Shhh .... Fastlad has an interesting post in which he zings the far-right Christians using the language they understand.

    By Blogger Twanna A. Hines | FUNKYBROWNCHICK.com, at 3:39 PM  

  • I just wanted to say thanks to lissa and stolie for their comments. I was being a bit of a smart ass, but it's greatly appreciated to have such insightful commentary (no surprise it isn't coming from me....) and in particular for stolie clearing up the 'illegal' versus 'criminal' issue. The news clip I saw makes much more sense now!

    By Blogger lala, at 7:02 PM  

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