Why are we allowing the US to call illegal immigrants “illegal aliens”?

I’m reminded of this every year when I file my taxes and write nonresident alien for my husband.

Because different countries use different terms. That's it.

I was a legal alien in Louisiana. Op, you are making yourself look a bit dum. Alien has been a word used for many years.

I haven’t RTFT, but the dictionary definition of Alien is “belonging to a foreign country” and as others have said, it’s been used by the US forever. The dictionary definition of immigrant is “someone who moves to another country with the intention of settling there permanently”. I think you’re getting your knickers in a twist over a non issue, and where the move is illegal, Alien is probably a better description.

Because some classes of immigrants have been fully vetted and given permission to live and work in America.

And others have not. This is a useful distinction.

Fleeing from crime, poverty, gang violence, exploitation, climate change is NOT and has NEVER been a basis for a successful asylum case in America. I think if you are a feminist activist though and the government targets you, then you have a case.

The bar is very high because so many places on earth are incredibly dysfunctional and you cannot expect the West to accommodate them.

Personally I find "illegal immigrants" pretty offensive too.

I don't think it's great to call anyone "illegal" - especially when most of the people who this term is applied to are recognised to actually be refugees, asylum seekers, or simply human beings who were born elsewhere and through no fault of their own have been forced to move (eg to escape the effects of climate chaos, grinding poverty, drug cartel violence, extreme femicide, exploitation etc).

Why can't we just call them "migrants"?
(adding a phrase like "sans papiers" or "without papers"/ "undocumented" if there is a need to make a distinction between them and other migrants)

"Alien" comes from the Latin "alienus", which has multiple meanings including foreign, and other. The Latin phrase "inter alia" means "among others".

In UK English, we tend not to use it to mean "foreign", in US English, it's commonly used to mean "foreign". It's not derogatory in US English.

I think using this term is the very least of the concerns around how the US treat immigrants

Because they ARE ILLEGAL and they ARE ALIEN TO THE US.

On some level we are all immigrants. There is no way we were born in the same tiny geographic accident that our 20,000th grandparents were.

So ?

Are you saying a Welsh -person is not Welsh ?

There is such a difference between opinion and fact.

Which is why it's essential that people ensure their opinions are never exposed to facts.

Yeah, you have a good point there, after all immigrants are part of the human race and to refer to immigrants as aliens is dehumanizing, derogatory, racist and pretty shameful.

When I lived in the US I was a registered alien (I had a green card). It’s just term used. Doesn’t mean anything and no one is offended. I’m white.

Why has it suddenly become offensive? I've not heard that it's offensive before reading this thread.

I've recently bought a property in Europe and to get permission from the local authority I had to complete a form called "Alien Acquisition of Property", ie, I'm a foreigner!

No because all are British.

There is such a difference between opinion and fact. Legal language often uses archaic terms which out of context sound offensive. Just wait until you hear some medical terms! That will really shatter your sensitivities! Everybody knows the context of the term alien - and doesn’t include arriving in spaceships.

My Dad was a refugee and came to this country in the 1950's. His paperwork from that time has 'alien' mentioned all over - it's just terminology. We aren't offended by it.
Come to think of it - my Mum's is the same, she joined Dad later.

We are made of stardust.

As we’re being surreal, if life on earth really derived from the dust particles arising from the ‘Big Bang’, then we are all ‘Aliens’, as in from Space.

So, far from it being used to only denote a non citizen, absolutely everyone (and all life forms on earth) are aliens.

All space dust/microbe blow ins.

I think a lot of posters on here believe that "English" is somehow policed in the same way French is. With an official body, and pronouncements that have the force of law. Presumably they don't regret the time they wasted at school or indeed are wasting here.

"The final arbiter or language is usage" as the OED regularly reminds people interested in English. They do not say "The final arbiter of language is acceptance".

With that drubbing out of the way, on one hand the concept of an English "native" (and I leave you to define that before returning to the discussion) could be regarded as an "alien" in Wales*. But as always a lot would depend on that pesky context that some folk struggle with. Before we can know if it is "acceptable" we would also need to know "to whom ?".

Yes as long as the English are allowed to call the Scots and the Welsh aliens 🤣

They use this term with any non-American. 😉

My son emigrated there 15 years ago. He works, pays taxes and there legally.

But, he’s still British, so he’s an alien.

Would it be acceptable, then, for Welsh or Scottish people to call English people living in those countries aliens?

The fact that it is used in association with hunting down and abusing or killing so called aliens does make it somewhat concerning.