Because "Illegal Immigrants" is too mainstream...

@BozieFozie Said

What's wrong with "New Americans"???

@jonnythan Said

"Immigrants" by itself implies illegal immigrants.

@chaski Said

So there are no legal immigrants?

Isn't the word "illegal" being used as an adjective to describe the type of immigrant?

As a side note (feel free to correct me), but "illegal immigration" cases are heard in front of an administrative law judge for the BCIS not a criminal judge. That is, illegal immigration is a Civil matter not Criminal Law matter.

@jonnythan Said

There are legal immigrants, yes.

In American culture, people associate the word illegal with the word immigrants. The vast majority of the time we hear about immigrants from the media or speak about immigrants amongst ourselves, it is about illegal immigrants. It's a product of the political climate and not a judgment.

It's an association, and one that's not going away any time soon.

@Kristy69 Said

Governor O'Malley (Maryland) has adopted a new, more politically correct term for immigrants (both legal and illegal:

New Americans

In my opinion, another case of PC going way too far..

Okay. I can maybe understand that term being used for legal immigrants, because as far as I'm concerned, they've done the proper steps to becoming a citizen of America. An American.
As far as illegals go, no. I wouldn't call them Americans. I don't think that where you simply reside is what you should be referred to. For instance, if I went over and got a place in France, I wouldn't then call myself French.

https://cnsnews.com/news/article/maryland-s-democratic-governor-calls-illegal-immigrants-new-americans
(yes, I know the article is from 2010, but now we have a "Coucil for New Americans" that just picking up speed in recent months..)

@cailyn10289 Said

Even legal immigrants aren't American if they don't want to be. My husband is completely legal, he holds his green card and everything, but he's just going to be applying for his green card every ten years because he doesn't want to become a citizen. If I told him he was now dubbed a "New American" he would laugh at me and say "Teh f*** ya talking about? Shweest."

You can't really class illegal and legal immigrants in the same category. It kinda makes me mad when people do.

@BozieFozie Said

I'm with you, except for the "mad" part. It doesn't make me mad, but I do think that somehow it diminishes the effort that LEGAL immigrants have to go through for citizenship. That's a hard job, from what I hear, to become legal in the States. I think that's why there are so many illegals.

@cailyn10289 Said

It's a long, tedious, and expensive process. That's exactly why so many people come here illegally. They simply can't afford to do it the legal way. I can't really blame them. It cost me and my husband thousands of dollars to do it. It was emotionally draining as well.

@BozieFozie Said

THANK you! This proves my point, it is simply less of a hassle to do the whole legalization thing. What ever happened to the days when you came through Ellis Island and became a U.S. citizen right then and there?? I know my great-grandparents did that, and were VERY proud and respectful of their new country. They never forgot their roots and heritage (still spoke Polish/Russian in their home) but they were model Americans in every way!

@Kristy69 Said

As did mine (although they came from Ireland). Once again! I have no problem with the term "New Americans" for people who have become actual citizens. The thread is because illegal immigrants are being called the same thing.

Governor O'Malley thought "immigrant" was a derogatory term. So he changed it. But if you classify illegals and legals in the SAME category, it'll still have the same meaning.
You can put glitter on s*** but...



(and no, I'm not saying immigrants are poop, before someone hops onto that one...)

@cailyn10289 Said

@cailyn10289 Said

Even legal immigrants aren't American if they don't want to be. My husband is completely legal, he holds his green card and everything, but he's just going to be applying for his green card every ten years because he doesn't want to become a citizen. If I told him he was now dubbed a "New American" he would laugh at me and say "Teh f*** ya talking about? Shweest."

You can't really class illegal and legal immigrants in the same category. It kinda makes me mad when people do.