A spade is a spade

If a person steals a car, then donates it to charity, that person is still a car thief.

If a person illegally enters a country for permanent residency, then works for low pay to stay in that country, that person is still an illegal immigrant.

Not an "undocumented migrant employee."

Not a "foreign-born asylum applicant."

No other euphemisms (which the major national and international media have embraced) will suffice.  The fact that illegal immigrants have broken laws and now protest for citizen rights cannot be skewed merely by sugar-coating their status or titles.

In a CNN.com article posted on April 10, 2006, the headline itself reads: "Rallies across U.S. call for illegal immigrant rights."

What rights?  Human rights?  Absolutely.

But what other rights exist to which these "undocumented foreign-born workers" are entitled by law?  U.S. citizen rights?

According to the article, protesters held signs that read "We Are America."  While the signs should have read "We Are IN America" -- what was noticeably absent were two important letters: We Are AmericaNS.

The article attempts to garner sympathy for the "undocumented resident" cause.  It quotes the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, California, as calling for widespread laws that legalize all illegals already residing in the United States.  According to Cardinal Mahony, from a rally, "We are all God's children, united for a just immigration reform."

I am a Roman Catholic and a natural-born U.S. citizen.  That said, God's children include rapists, murderers, thieves and tax cheats -- but I don't hear Cardinal Mahony calling for them to have the same rights as every other law-abiding citizen.

The obvious, convenient double-standard here is how protesters also wore shirts that proclaimed, "We are NOT criminals!"

While these protesters may not associate their behavior with the likes of capital offenders, it still does not diminish the fact that their entire basis for argument is predicated on the fact that they committed a real crime (at least, according to the laws of the United States, for what they're worth).

THE POLITICS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

When the Senate (GOP) proposed, then revisedand resubmitted, two actual plans to control and organize the illegal immigration issue last month, they thrice fell short of enough votes for cloture in the Senate.

According to a FoxNews.com article posted on April 8, 2006, the more popular Hagel-Martinez compromise sought to divvy the estimated 11 million or so illegal immigrants into three groups:

(1) those who have been inside the country for more than five years who would have the best chances to gain citizenship;

(2) those who have been in the country for between two and five years and would face more obstacles in gaining citizenship, but could remain in the country;

(3) and those who have been in the country for fewer than two years who would have to leave and apply for visas before they could return.

Republican Senate majority leader Bill Frist proposed legislation that would not guarantee illegal residents asylum, and would also punish financially corporations and other employers who hired them in large doses.  It also fell short of votes, even for amendments to alter its less popular components.

Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for the delay in passing reform.  But who benefits more from stall tactics?

Democrats.

Hispanics largely vote Republican throughout the United States, and to portray the GOP as the villains who propose tough legislation against illegal immigrants, it gives Democrats hope for a voting loyalty shift (right in time for last week's elections).

It also bought -- and buys -- time for more rallies to be organized and demonstrated before last Tuesday's elections, and certainly before this November's midterm elections.

(And not surprisingly, the largest national work-boycott rally was held last Monday, on a Communist national holiday.)

Just be weary in these months leading up to November.  Be careful not to believe every bit of hype and shouting.  Be warned that these rallies will eventually turn violent unless the political climate changes soon.

And be ready for Democrats to claim that Republicans are doing nothing to push real reform through Congress -- all the while voting against and filibustering the real proposals made.

And lastly... as for euphemisms, AmericaNS will not fall for the media deception, whatever labels are given for illegal immigrants.  To quote the web site illegalaliens.us, "Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling a burglar an uninvited house guest."

And if those who are soft on this issue are not careful, that strategy WILL backfire severely in November.