Actually I agree that he should not be called an “illegal alien”. Yes, he *is* an illegal alien. But the expression has been overused in the public dialogue, which makes it muddled in the public mind.
The left wants to call them “undocumented immigrants”, and we should not let them get away with that, but instead, revitalize *in the public mind*, what they really are.
“MEXICAN CITIZENS”.
Let me demonstrate how radically different and downright offensive this guy’s testimony becomes when you change the wording.
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Jose Antonio Vargas, a MEXICAN CITIZEN and former reporter, scolded a congressional panel on Wednesday, saying that he should not be called a MEXICAN CITIZEN, and saying it is an insult to his family who brought him here.
“When you inaccurately call me a MEXICAN CITIZEN, you not only dehumanize me, you’re offending them,” he said. “No human being is a MEXICAN CITIZEN.”
Mr. Vargas, who “came out” as a MEXICAN CITIZEN several years ago, delivered an emotional plea for the country to legalize him.
“What do you want to do with us?” he asked the committee.
Last week, a top House Democrat also warned colleagues against using the term “MEXICAN CITIZENS.”
“Our MEXICAN CITIZENS are not — the people in this country are not MEXICAN CITIZENS. They are are out of MEXICO. They are new Americans that are MEXICAN CITIZENS,” Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, told colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee.
Many MEXICAN CITIZEN-rights advocates object to the terms “MEXICAN” and “CITIZEN,” saying that people cannot be deemed MEXICANS, and that the word “MEXICAN” makes them sound inhuman. They argue the better terms are “UNDOCUMENTED MEXICAN CITIZENS.”
Many newspapers, including The Washington Times, use the phrase “MEXICAN CITIZENS,” deeming it the most accurate description.
Mr. Vargas called himself an “UNDOCUMENTED MEXICAN CITIZEN.”
He is one of a number of MEXICAN CITIZENS who have come out of the shadows to argue their case for UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP.
He came to the U.S. to live with his grandfather, who was a UNITED STATES CITIZEN, but Mr. Vargas was never a UNITED STATES CITIZEN himself — a fact he found out when he went to get a driver’s license at age 16.
At least five other MEXICAN CITIZENS were scheduled to be guests at Tuesday’s State of the Union address, though each of those has been granted specific tentative legal status AS A VISITING MEXICAN CITIZEN through one of the Homeland Security Department’s programs.