Illegal is equal to (word that I'd put here but the whole board would collapse)

[Gonz]

Step one...lessen the crime

ATLANTA — Each year, nearly 1 million foreigners unlawfully sneak into the United States.

But don’t call them "illegal aliens" because that's the moral equivalent of a racial slur, according to the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (search).

"We do find that term very offensive and liken it to the 'n' word as well," GALEO Executive Director Kerry Gonzalez said, referring to the derogatory term used to describe black people.

Gonzalez is urging Georgia lawmakers to use the term "undocumented workers" when referring to foreigners who enter the United States.

But immigration control advocates say it's just an attempt to use political correctness for political gain. While racial epithets are used to harm the innocent, the word "illegal" describes those who break the law.

"When we have public discourse we have to talk about illegal aliens. After all, U.S. law refers to all of these people sneaking into our country as illegal aliens," said Phil Kent of the American Immigration Control Foundation.

 

[Sharky]

"We do find that term very offensive and liken it to the 'n' word as well," GALEO Executive Director Kerry Gonzalez said, referring to the derogatory term used to describe black people.

ILLEGAL ALIENS are (obviously) in this country ILLEGALLY. How that makes the term "ILLEGAL ALIENS" derogatory is beyond me. Comparing use of the term ILLEGAL ALIENS to use of the "N" word is asinine.

 

[A.B.Normal]

Wow,I think we found something we can all agree on. WTF do they think they are

 

[freako104]

why do they have a problem with what they are? your coming into this country illegally. what the hell?

 

[Gotnolegs]

Gonz, yet again you manage to... No hold on... That can't be right... I agree with you? How the fuck did that happen?

So if "illegal" is a social slur however factual it may be will you soon be asked to stop refering to people having commited "crimes" as that too involves a social stigma?

Perhaps these people could be classed as "being involved in behaviours incompatible with social and legal norms" or is that too confusing and therefore derogatory to stupid people...

 

[drkavnger99]

Gotta love thier attempt though! They have been progressing without much fight on many other fronts to let them work and live here but are illegal all the same!

 

[paul_valaru]

they aren't illegal aliens they are......

govermentaly unkown temporary residents.....


WTF is going down there!

 

[Luis G]

I think they find offensive the word "alien" rather than the word illegal. But who knows, I'll never be one, so I can't tell.

edit: why don't call them mojados (wets)? that's what we call them here anyway

 

[unclehobart]

I call them 'vagrant tourists'.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

The most polite name I have for them is pepper pickers.

And am I the only one who sees the practice of hiring these folks to do farm work, having them live 26 to a trailer and paid three bucks an hour, the modern day equivelent to slavery?

 

[HomeLAN]

Not only it's equivalent, but just as illegal in itself. We need to get it on both sides of the issue - bust the aliens, and also bust the fuckers who don't verify work eligibility before putting 'em to work at $2 an hour.

 

[Professur]

I think you've got it ass backwards there, HL. I'd say that they're willing to work for $2/h is pretty much a verifying that they don't have elegibility.

 

[HomeLAN]

Correct. Do it legally, and we kill 2 birds with one stone. The fact that there isn't even an attempt to abide by the law pisses me off, though. Shit like this gives business people a bad name.

 

[Professur]

Correct. Do it legally, and we kill 2 birds with one stone. The fact that there isn't even an attempt to abide by the law pisses me off, though. Shit like this gives business people a bad name.

A bad name, but cash in their pocket. That, right there, is where you need to stomp them.

Illegal labour, say goodbye to your farm, store, business, etc.

 

[HomeLAN]

You'll want to be careful how you legislate that. RICO was meant to do exactly that in cases of organized crime, and I'm sure Gonz can tell you some horror stories on how that one has been (mis)applied. It's one of his favorite subjects.

A few good-sized jail terms in some of the more prone industries (like agriculture, for example) would go far, though.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Playing Devil's advocate here...

OK, I can get with what y'all are saying. But how about the farmer? He has to get his crop harvested, or he goes broke and you go hungry. No one else is willing to work for what he can afford to pay. Those that say they will, either don't show up, don't work when they do, or steal him blind.

Catch 22.

 

[HomeLAN]

He's going to have to pay more, and then he's going to have to charge more. Welcome to market economics.

Frankly, given the cost of services to every fucking illegal in the country right now, I'll pay the higher food prices. That way, I get something for my cash, and it'll probably be cheaper anyways.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

No argument from me, talk to the advocate!

I know farmers have a tough scrape. Their entiire livlihood is at the whim of weather and a thousand other variables. I know my job pays the same in drought or flood; their doesn't.

We bitch if milk prices spike, but even then the dairy farmer doesn't see that extra money we pay. The farmer is always the last to get his cut. He has to buy his seed, supplies, equipment, gasoline, labor, pay taxes on both ends, and survive on what's left after Mother Nature blesses or turns her back, as the case may be. Tough row to hoe, pardon the pun.

I'm with ya on the illegals. Honest. But I also see the corner farmers are backed into.

 

[Professur]

Don't you mean the corner they've backed themselves into?

Farming's been touch and go for thousands of years.


IMHO, the blame wants to land somewhere about the ears of the supermarket chains. There are farmer's markets near me, and I'm more than happy to go and shop there. Fresher food, and the chance to haggle. And haggle I do. Take my own carryall to shave a little more too.

But when prices are dictated to farmers by entities like the Wheat board, or the futures market ....

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Let me clarify.

I ain't talking about the Midwestern farmer who owns and tends 3000 acres of wheat. I refer to smaller operations. Example: One man near me owns a sizable herd of Black Angus cattle. Has a farm near me, and a full blown ranch in Montana. He does quite well. He has a half dozen or so Latin workers he employs. They live in an old barn...but it has been renovated into an apartment, complete with AC, heat, running water, electricity...nicer than my house truth be told. He pays these men some (I do not know how much), but provides all their living expenses free, plus they eat at his table during harvest season and other times when the work is non-stop.

Is that ethical treatment?

Example 2: Another farmer near here plants about 12 acres of bell peppers and squash. He sells these to a local canning outfit. He cannot afford modern harvesting equipment, so he hires who he can, regardless of native tongue or other status. They are paid by the pound for what they harvest, flat rate cash in hand, no questions asked.

Is that ethical?