No More Semantics

• NPG
• February 5, 2013
• NPG Commentary
• 0 Comments

Unfortunately, NPG’s hopes for dispassionate Congressional debate on immigration reform hit a snag at its very beginning.

At the House Judiciary Committee’s first hearings on rewriting our nation’s immigration laws, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), the Ranking Minority Member, noted:

I hope no one uses the term illegal immigrants here today. Our citizens are not – the people in this country are not illegal. They are out of status. They are new Americans that are immigrants.

When Congress begins a major discussion on such a critical issue with an immediate play for semantics is there much hope for objectivity or for rational and responsible new immigration rules to emerge? NPG considers this issue far too critical for such distractions. Whether their arrival was illegal or they have remained beyond a visa’s expiration, the individuals in question have committed a crime. The focus of this debate should not be what words to use, but rather what actions to take to remedy this crisis.