Losing Our Minds over Immigration

On the issue of immigration, politicians and much of the mainstream media are playing with our minds. By repeating the phrase “illegal immigrants,” they’re creating a misleading stereotype. It’s inaccurate. And, it’s distracting us from the real issue — economic exploitation of all low-wage workers in the U.S.

The Republicans did it in their YouTube debate on CNN. In the first 30 minutes, the Republicans repeatedly used the term “illegal immigrant” and spent the time sparring over which of them could treat them more harshly. Were the painters who worked on Romney’s house and the low-wage workers in Giuliani’s New York City really such a grave threat to America?

CNN’s John King used the term, too. And so did CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Campbell Brown in the most recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas. And, some of the Democratic candidates used it also, though Kucinich specifically refused (”There are no illegal human beings”). But he’s in the minority. The term is everywhere in the press. You can find it in the Washington Post here and in the New York Times here, as well as the doubly derogatory term “illegal alien” in the Washington Times here. They’ve all got “illegal” on the brain.”*

• No related posts.