Undocumented Immigrants Are Not Illegal

by Nitesh Arora


"You, who are so-called illegal aliens, must know that no human being is illegal. That is a contradiction in terms. Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but illegal? How can a human being be illegal?"

Those words, by writer & Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, ​truly capture how wrong it is to call a person "illegal". Someone can be an undocumented resident, of course. That simply reflects legal status. Calling someone an "illegal" immigrant reduces them as a person. 

It's disappointing that John McCain would like to keep calling immigrants "illegal".​

“You can call it whatever you want to, but it’s illegal,” he continued. “I think there’s a big difference between someone who does something that’s illegal and someone who’s undocumented. I’ll continue to call it illegal.”

​​Watch the trailer below. It shares the stories people raised in the US that happen to be undocumented immigrants (some did not know until they went to do things like get driver's licenses).