Congressman Bobby Rush is letting political correctness get the better of him.
The Illinois Democrat wants the House of Representatives to stop using the term “illegal immigrants” when referring to those who come into this country, um, illegally. His new preferred tem is “undocumented foreign nationals.”
OK, let’s not split hairs here.
I happen to be all for many provisions that President Obama wants to enact: The Dream Act would in effect grant amnesty to those who were brought here illegally by their parents when they were too young to do anything about it. I also favor streamlining legalization procedures to enable those who are here illegally to obtain legal resident status. I do not want to round up the 11 million or so people who are here illegally and send them back to their country of origin.
But I also do not feel the need to mess with the language to define individuals who failed – for whatever reason – to enter this country through legal means.
Rep. Rush is engaging in some kind of meaningless semantic exercise. “undocumented foreign nationals” means the very same thing as “illegal immigrants.”
The folks who sneaked into this country broke the law. Thus, they have committed an illegal act. Give them a chance to make it right. But let’s not get caught up in playing silly word games.