em·pa·thy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another

Immigration is a hot topic these days.  Just a cursory glance at any major news source provides a gripping national and political saga of drama, death, irony, and more absurdity than a Sarah Palin reality TV show.  But what about the people themselves?  

In the "drama" story, a woman was shackled while she gave birth.  I once had to try and figure out how to pee with handcuffs on and that a miserable experience that is in no way comparable to what this woman went through.  This human/person/woman was SHACKLED while she gave birth.  Did they think she was going to make a run for it?  Go hide in a Walmart (the most depressing symbol of America) and have her kid?  We did this.  Learned hate and evil and intolerance made somebody think it was acceptable to do this to another human being. 

So today, let's step back and think about the group of people that we call "illegal immigrants".   Most of us come from the loins of somebody that wasn't invited into this country and we seem to forget that.  Jose Antonio Vargas is an undocumented immigrant that was brought to the US when he was 12.  At 16, he found out that his green card was a forgery.  Today, he is a successful journalist and posted this piece on the use of the phrase "illegal immigrant".  

As an out and proud undocumented immigrant, Vargas' knowledge of the subject is first hand.  I can only speculate, but I imagine his life didn't become easier once he "outed" himself in 2011 and knowing the caliber of people in this "Melting Pot", I'd bet he received threats and hate mail.  After all he's been through and accomplished in his life, I'd say Vargas' is more than qualified to have his opinion heard and his arguments taken seriously. Really all he's saying is that we should use words that mean what we want to say rather than using words for dramatic effect.  

Vargas' wrote his column to everybody.  Simple language and well constructed arguments kept bringing me back to one question: Why have I never realized this before?  For all the coverage on debates and policies regarding "illegal immigrants", very few us take into consideration that we are talking about humans.  People.  Our neighbors.  They have committed no criminal offense by entering the US.  They don't come in and still our jobs and soak up our welfare and bleed our country dry.  Some run from evil political regimes and others come to be closer to family.  

So, why do we call them "illegal"?  Undocumented immigrants have committed civil offenses.  Ever said a curse word at work?  That might be a civil offense by a breach of contract with your employer.  Parking tickets?  Civil offenses.   So calm down and use your words.  There's no reason to dehumanize an entire group of people based on their undocumented status and use words to describe them that we normally reserve for criminals.

Also, Jose Antonio Vargas is from the Philippians.  If that sentence just blew your mind, click here.