This story is the big feature on the front page of Saturday's Miami Herald, so many of you have already seen it. It talks about the increase in migration from Cuba since Fidel Castro's illness was announced a year ago. The story also finds the reason why more are leaving, or at least what they say: they don't see much chance of freedom or prosperity after Castro, so why wait.
One more point of interest for me: the Herald's repeated use of the word illegal to refer to these migrants. This usage is, of course, quite common. But as it happened, I had just read a post in the MYDD blog in which Rudy Giuliani rejected the use of illegal to refer to people in the country without visas. And as he said, he was U.S. attorney in New York and he oughta know what's illegal and what's not. It's not a federal crime to be an immigrant without a visa, and those in that situation are processed through civil court, not criminal court. There you are: from Rudy's lips.
Now let's see what words our Democratic presidential aspirants use in this situation. And I will continue to wonder at the Herald's use of illegal. No doubt they've hashed it over and decided that's the word to use.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
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4 comments:
Actually, it's ICE using the word "illegal" and the Herald reporting it.
Nonetheless, I also found it worth noting.
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I looked again at the Saturday Herald, and the story isn't quoting ICE in using the word "illegal." It's the Herald's own choice of word. Elsewhere, however, the article uses "undocumented," which is not as judgmental as "illegal." On NPR recently someone talking about this said calling people "illegal" questions their right to exist at all. Next step would be machine guns at the border.
Ah, I see what the problem is. The story you linked to is actually out of yesterday's Herald. The story I'm speaking about is from today.
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Sorry but those two stories were published together in the Saturday Herald. The one I referenced was on the front page of the printed edition I got, and the one that Rick referenced was a sidebar, on p. 2. In any case, we both seem to prefer unfreighted language on the migrant issue.
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