Last Thursday, Editor-in-Chief Ryan Rainey wrote a weak explanation giving the reasons why The Badger Herald will continue to use the term “undocumented immigrant” in place of “illegal immigrant.” This is completely absurd, and the newspaper would do well to reconsider its position.

Rainey’s entire justification was premised upon his judgment that “illegal immigrant” is a dated term and that it is “unnecessarily alienating and objectively unfair to a core social group that reads our newspaper.” Do tell – how is using an objective term that accurately describes the situation of many immigrants unfair? If someone crosses the border illegally, it’s not unfair to call them an illegal immigrant. The logical antonym of “legal immigrant” is “illegal immigrant;” there’s no excess of normative baggage that comes along with an accurate and concise two-word description.

Rainey may have a point when he opines this social group dislikes having their actions referred to as being illegal, but that doesn’t change anything. As the old saying goes, “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” By shifting the terminology from “illegal” to “undocumented,” the newspaper is granting implicit legitimacy to those who ignore our immigration laws and have no lawful presence here.

What happens when “undocumented immigrant” becomes an offensive and politically incorrect term? Perhaps “unauthorized immigrant” will become the new norm – until that becomes “objectively unfair” as well.

We can get into a debate over semantics and water down terminology to the point where nobody even knows what we’re talking about. However, this gives a misleading description, and it doesn’t alter the facts.

Consider the obsession with avoiding the term “mental retardation.” Despite being a correct medical term still in use today, it became highly offensive and derogatory because individuals can utter it in a degrading way. Thus, we transitioned to “mentally disabled” and “mentally handicapped” as more politically correct alternatives. Over time these also became too offensive, and we found ourselves with “special needs.” Again, the same old problem – people used “special” in a negative connotation until the latest idea from the politically correct think tank came out: “Differently abled.”

What the heck does “differently abled” mean? Does it mean someone has exceptional athletic abilities? Does it describe a genius? A person with mental disabilities? Does it mean their bodies function in a different way or have superhuman flexibility? The problem inherent in this vague, inoffensive description is that it is watered down to the point of incomprehensibility. If you hadn’t read the above paragraph, you might not have understood what we were talking about – mentally disabled persons.

Now you may be asking, “What does any of this have to do with illegal immigration”? While this is certainly not meant to equate illegal immigrants with disabled individuals, it is intended to demonstrate how ridiculous a silly slide in semantics is. It’s only a matter of time until “undocumented immigrant” becomes the new “illegal immigrant” and a newer, less accurate, more obfuscating term appears to replace it.

The Associated Press Stylebook uses the term illegal immigrant for a reason – it’s descriptively accurate and provides clarity. If a tenant occupies a property illegally, they are rightfully referred to as an “illegal tenant.” This isn’t rocket science, and it doesn’t pass undo judgment; it’s an objective observation of the facts.

Insisting on the use of “undocumented” in place of “illegal” is nothing but an act of sheer political correctness. Rainey and fellow journalists may “resent this description” all they like, but if you follow my columns you probably know that I’m not exactly one to give two hoots about political correctness. We can babble all day about how the newspaper is being “inclusive,” “diverse,” “respectful” and all the other lovey-dovey catchphrases, but that’s all they are – catchphrases. Of course, Rainey and crew may wish to live in a delusional bubble in which this isn’t the case and resent my very writing this. Tough.

When all is said and done, Rainey’s word choice attempts to avoid a potentially politically charged phrase. Ironically, all he does is replace it with an equally charged word while simultaneously eroding the meaning. Our readers and community deserve better.

Justin Kramer ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in nuclear engineering.