Immigrants verse Illegal Aliens

[kilo39]

Astounds me the way news reports in this country (tv and papers) refer to people as "immigrants" - Surely the majority are not immigrants but "Illegal Aliens" - why can't we call things what they are? How come we have so many "immigrants?" For what reason - are they highly qualified, being persecuted, what? Or are they simply illegal aliens and should be labeled such?

While full sympathy applies to the victims this is typical of what I mean:
Malawian immigrant Makono, who is 29, was battling to see. "It was dark, I could not see inside. I thought they (my neighbours) might have gone out of the building, so I went to the exit to also escape," he said.

iol

 

[supersunbird]

They maybe be illegal immigrants, cause illegal aliens (there as of yet no legal ones) are the ones making the crop circles.

And a lot of "illegal" immigrants have immigation papers (bought from corrupt officials), how will the journalist check it out?

 

[kilo39]

... I just find it amazing we have so many unemployed but we seem to have completely open borders. Why have citizenship at all?

 

[bwana]

I'm an immigrant - got a problem with that?

 

[supersunbird]

I'm all for continentilization, but the political leaders are lacking and ethnic rivalries (aka fighting) will make it too unstable.

 

[kilo39]

I'm an immigrant - got a problem with that?

You got "legal" papers?

I'm all for continentilization, but the political leaders are lacking and ethnic rivalries (aka fighting) will make it too unstable.

I agree - the Brits have proven over and over again immigration is good for an economy... and it amazes me these guys, girls come here - find work or make work - unlike our local brethren. Seems a much healthier attitude in the rest of 'non-strife' torn Africa - this definitely fallout from apartheid regime.

 

[Hastur]

this definitely fallout from apartheid regime.

Which apartheid regime are you talking about, the old or the new one

 

[bwana]

You got "legal" papers?

Yup - all legal.

 

[kilo39]

Which apartheid regime are you talking about, the old or the new one

You got "legal" papers?

Actually wish we didn't live in a world of papers and borders - and all the crap that goes with them.

 

[DigitalSoldier]

You know how many of the illegal immigrants get atacked daily by south africans cos they are stealing the south african jobs but yet again the government doesnt care

 

[Sudt]

I don't like illegal immigrants, I think they should all go home, It's a nasty thing to say, but I don't care about poor foreign people. That's why we've got the UN, to look after those people. All and I mean all the countries in the world have problems with illegal people living there. It's not going to change so why give it anymore thought? Unless all the countries buy a really small country and send all the illegal aliens and immigrants there, nothing will change.

 

[IanC]

Reading through this thread an old Scottish proverb comes to mind ... Keep yer ain fish guts tae yer ain sea maws i.e. once SA has helped her own people, only then should she look to helping others. It is only at that point that South Africans will no longer see foreigners as a threat.

 

[Hobagoas]

When I was 12 I was once almost deported because I was an illegal alien. And I'm born&raised in JHB!!!! The East Rand must finally be seen as part of South Africa...demmit

 

[Africaner]

I'm an immigrant - got a problem with that?

Do you still think SA is better then the country you come from? Is South Africa what you expected it to be? How long are you here? Have you thought about going back home. Or if life back home is still not acceptable, emigrating to some other country or continent? Did you manage to integrate easy in SA? Do you miss your friends and family back home? Do you visit them now and then? Of course you do not have to answer any of the questions. Just been curious.

 

[Mila]

Oh dear lord now we know who the Zodiac person is.

 

[Hamish McPanji]

I am an immigrant from Malawi also.....what's the problem with immigrants?

 

[Paul Hjul]

On the actual question from the OP:
Alien simply refers to the legal status of being a foreign person in a country while being under the aegis of another sovereign power (the Pope is actually an alien for some time almost every day) - so for example a refugee is seldom an alien. Immigrant on the other hand suggests that the person is intent on remaining for a considerable period of time (usually more than a year) in a country, or have spent a considerable time but were born elsewhere. An immigrant can be contrasted to a native. I am a native South African, my father was an immigrant (born in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia) and is currently an alien somewhere or another.

So in order for me to enter the US I obtained a non-immigration visa (a B1/B2 visa) which is tagged as a "tourist visa" for the duration of my stay I was an alien in the country as a tourist. The person with an immigration visa is a legal immigrant and the person without is an illegal immigrant, both are aliens. There is a tendency to use species rather than genus when giving a description and using a commonly found property in a generic form (so if you are describing somebody as Xhosa the other person assumes the person is black skinned, if the person is white you'll highlight the fact - this trait in our thinking can manifest itself into really bad cognitive bias but can also allow us to process ideas quickly) and so we don't call a tourist an alien tourist - even though they are an alien - outside of a context where the distinction between aliens and natives are relevant. An illegal alien is a person who is not legally in a country whether as an immigrant or not, the term illegal immigrant however has developed out of the problem of aliens legally entering a country and remaining as immigrants and has caught on.

Aliens as the green men of course is from the fact that an extraterrestrial intelligent life form would not be a native of this planet.

 

[Kornhub]

Africaner = troll ? :erm:

 

[ponder]

When Cheech Marin is accidently deported to Mexico without i.d. or knowledge of Spanish and unable to convince U.S. officials to let him back in the U.S., the comedy begins. In between unsuccessful schemes to cross the border he gets duped by a dippy doorman, picked on by prison pals, and smitten by a senorita.

Lighter side of things...

 

[zippy]

I am an immigrant from Malawi also.....what's the problem with immigrants?

Too hardworking