After hearing the term "illegal" in reference to immigrants, most of us probably think of the US-Mexico border, or of immigration from Latin-American countries.

However, in an 1897 New York Times Article, the word was used in reference to Chinese immigrants crossing into the US through the US-Canadian border at a time when their entrance was strictly forbidden due to the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Evidently, the term “illegals” or “illegal immigrants” was not always exclusive to Latin-American immigrants, but it has however, been heavily involved in the exclusion of groups of people.

Why though, is such a term necessary? Why has it become so popular? What are its effects as we use it now?

Sociologist Ulrich Beck’s risk theory provides the reasoning behind this. According to Beck, in ancient times, the risks or hazards that people faced were largely natural disasters outside their control. However, as technology and society advanced, people’s perceptions of risks evolved to include anything that was disruptive of their social norms or culture — including people. Before, when natural disasters would strike, people would turn their rage towards gods, but as risks became people, agencies, and firms, anger turned political. Moreover, the need to find a solution to those hazards or risks sets the framework for the consequential need to exclude and separate groups of people. When a group of people is seen as a risk, they need to be dealt with, as all hazards are, and labeling them in a way that dehumanizes them makes it easier for them to be “dealt” with. And this is where the term illegal comes in.

As we all know, the power to name someone is the power to control how they are represented. It is much easier to rile people up against a group of people when they are believed to be “bad”. It also makes it harder to feel empathy or connect with their personal stories. In fact, it compiles thousands of individual identities and stories into an identity of “crime”.

Some groups, like the Drop the I-Word Campaign and the DREAMers, advocate for the use of other words such as undocumented or unauthorized as opposed to illegals. Dreamers have claimed the phrase undocumented and unafraid to highlight the only real difference between themselves and others is the lack of documentation. Additionally, they have taken to sharing their individual stories publicly to personalize their struggles and combat the very nature of what the term illegal does.

There is much more to be looked into when thinking of the power that the term carries, questions such as the ways is the term being manipulated by politicians, or the more precise history of the term.

These are some conversations that may be difficult or uncomfortable, but questioning these sorts of things is essential to furthering our understanding as informed citizens.

Sources:

Beck, Ulrich. “From Industrial Society to the Risk Society: Questions of Survival, Social Structure and Ecological Enlightenment.” Theory, Culture & Society 9.1 (1992): 97–123. Web.

Chomsky, Aviva. Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal. New York, NY, United States: Beacon Press, 2014. Print.

Clausen, Helene Balslev. The Politics, Economics, and Culture of Mexican-US Migration: Both Sides of the Border. Eds. Edward Ashbee, H. Clausen, C. Pedersen, and Carl Pedersen. New York, NY, United States: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.

"Col. Scharf Gives It Up." New York Times (1857-1922), New York, N.Y., 1897.

Guivant, Julia S. "Ulrich Beck's Legacy." Ambiente & Sociedade 19.1 (2016) ProQuest. Web.

Hartelius, Johanna E, ed. The Rhetorics of Us Immigration: Identity, Community, Otherness. United States: Penn State University Press, 2015. Print.