Words mean things, and as most emotional debates go, both sides are using emotional terms that are inaccurate as applied to the vast majority of would-be immigrants.
The folks in the ‘caravan’ that’s currently a 2-months’ walk away from the border are not ‘invaders’, ‘terrorists’, etc. They would be ‘immigrants’ if we allowed them to be, and while a smattering might be legit asylum seekers or criminals or whatever else any group of humans will have amongst them, it’s incorrect and unfair and bigoted to refer to them as anything derogatory.
Same goes for ‘asylum seekers.’ Seeking asylum has a definition around it and means something; from www.uscis.gov/…
Refugees & Asylum
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Refugee status or asylum may be granted to people who have been persecuted or fear they will be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particular social group or political opinion.
Refugees
Refugee status is a form of protection that may be granted to people who meet the definition of refugee and who are of special humanitarian concern to the United States. Refugees are generally people outside of their country who are unable or unwilling to return home because they fear serious harm. For a legal definition of refugee, see section 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
You may seek a referral for refugee status only from outside of the United States. For more information about refugees, see the Refugees section.
Asylum
Asylum status is a form of protection available to people who:
- Meet the definition of refugee
- Are already in the United States
- Are seeking admission at a port of entry
From www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/…
Refugee
“A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
Asylum Seeker:
A person who has left their country of origin and formally applied for asylum in another country but whose application has not yet been concluded.
We certainly need more information, confirming that all of the folks in the caravan fear political or religious persecution in their country, before we can rightfully label them refugees or asylum-seekers. And guess what? Right-wingers still won’t care — so why are so many on the left so willing to just throw in the label ‘asylum-seekers’ to immigrants who are simply seeking a better life? Who do they think they’re persuading by using that (incorrect) term?
Words mean things. Regardless of whether they are ultimately accepted into the country, immigrants attempting to cross our border are human beings and deserve to be treated humanely...and labeling them other than that without far more evidence than we have is both folly and unhelpful.