I pay close attention to the words that politicians use. Alien and immigrant mean two different things. There are illegal aliens, being foreign nationals that either overstayed a non-immigrant visa, or those aliens that never applied for or received the visa. Whether these aliens get off of a boat, airplane, Ski-Doo, bus, or automobile does not matter.
An illegal immigrant can be any person seeking citizenship. Not all aliens seek or desire US citizenship. An example of an illegal immigrant could be someone that enters the country and applies for asylum, or otherwise intends to remain. This is common for Honduran, Brazilian, and Ecuadorian illegal immigrants. Their governments make it difficult to impossible to petition to leave. We Americans do not understand this concept, because we do not have to ask to be able to leave our country. Let alone post a surety bond to guarantee that we will return to the country, or have a relative monitored and imprisoned. The freedom and rights that we enjoy, we take for granted that all people have.
OK - thanks! Everything I had read before about those words said something else, but I read your posts and looked at the US immigration Web site too. Appreciate the information. I watch for obfuscation in the press too.
I'm a first-generation American so I definitely know what you are talking about in the last part of the post.