Don’t let anyone get away with misusing the terms illegal alien, legal alien and legal immigrant.

I defy you to find the term illegal immigrant in there ANYWHERE. @MistyCee

I'd be surprised if there was, actually, unless it's somewhere else in a piece of unrelated legislation.

Laws usually effectively make activities illegal, but not people, and actually even using the term illegal is pretty uncommon.

It’s there. ILLEGAL ALIEN. @MistyCee

@jackjjackson Ok, Jack. I'm not getting paid for this little piece of legal research, but you're correct that the term "illegal alien" is found in the code, despite the fact that its not a "defined term" in Chapter 12 of title 8.

The term may well appear elswhere, but its definitely used in 8 U.S.C. 1365, which generally provides for the reimbursement to the states of the costs of incarcerating illegal aliens and cuban nationals.

You're point was a good one, I guess, but so was mine, i.e., that its "more complicated" and in fact, at least here, there's no real definion of the term.

I wouldn't be surprised if the term doesn't pop pop elswhwere either, in some obscure way, like maybe in the general criminal statutes, or in employment law, or maybe even firearm controls.


FYI, I've heard from people working on both sides of the immigration issue in the legal field, and everyone generally agrees that the law is a mess and ought to be fixed, even when they disagree substantively on whether it should be changed.


Here's the unofficial text of 1365:

(a) Reimbursement of States
Subject to the amounts provided in advance in appropriation Acts, the Attorney General shall reimburse a State for the costs incurred by the State for the imprisonment of any illegal alien or Cuban national who is convicted of a felony by such State.

(b) Illegal aliens convicted of a felonyAn illegal alien referred to in subsection (a) is any alien who is any alien convicted of a felony who is in the United States unlawfully and—
(1) whose most recent entry into the United States was without inspection, or
(2) whose most recent admission to the United States was as a nonimmigrant and—
(A) whose period of authorized stay as a nonimmigrant expired, or
(B) whose unlawful status was known to the Government,
before the date of the commission of the crime for which the alien is convicted.
(c) Marielito Cubans convicted of a felonyA Marielito Cuban convicted of a felony referred to in subsection (a) is a national of Cuba who—
(1) was allowed by the Attorney General to come to the United States in 1980,
(2) after such arrival committed any violation of State or local law for which a term of imprisonment was imposed, and
(3) at the time of such arrival and at the time of such violation was not an alien lawfully admitted to the United States—
(A) for permanent or temporary residence, or
(B) under the terms of an immigrant visa or a nonimmigrant visa issued,
under the laws of the United States.
(d) Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(e) “State” defined
The term “State” has the meaning given such term in section 1101(a)(36) of this title.

(Pub. L. 99–603, title V, § 501, Nov. 6, 1986, 100 Stat. 3443.)

I already researched it. The question is why THEY insist in attempting to make us use made up terms. @MistyCee

@jackjjackson Ahhh. Those dreaded evil liberal PC types trying to subvert the thoughts of real Americans.

I'm more sympathetic about "undocumented" actually, but have fun.

@jackjjackson

Times change. Langue and the law evolve. And change doesn't just manifest out of thin air. It has to start somewhere.