We do not appreciate political correctness

In yesterday’s Washington Post (and today’s SJ Mercury News), reporters Dan Eggen and Cheryl W. Thompson reported that U.S. Seeks Thousands Of Fugitive Deportees. Normally I would have read this article, been peeved that the main quotes used come from only one side (representing the aggreived people, naturally), and passed on to the next article. However, my brain jammed up at the article’s use of the phrase undocumented immigrants. Further research (i.e., comparing the Post and Mercury News versions of the story) showed me that the Merc changed the story; in the Post the phrase was undocumented aliens.

What a phrase! This country, like any other, has arrogated to itself the ability to determine who may and may not reside or visit within its borders. To use the phrase undocumented immigrants implies that our country has abrogated that function to individuals to determine for themselves. We have not done so and these people, whose reasons for being here are not in question, are in the United States illegally. Further, the phrase rises to previously unnoticed (and undesirable) heights of political correctness for a major newspaper such as the Post.