Politically Correct Documentation (or Lack Thereof)

            I am a 3rd generation American.  I believe that we need to have an intelligent, practical and properly enforced immigration policy.  I believe that those who wish to latch onto the American Dream need to follow the rules, just as my grandparents did.  And I believe that we need to send away, and keep away, those who have come here but who have not played by the rules.

            It is my policy to not make inquiry of my students regarding such personal matters as religion, ethnicity, gender preference, or immigration status, effectively a very effective "Don't Ask - Don't Tell policy.  Nevertheless, I do become cognizant of such particulars quite often.  This, of course, gives rise to an inherent conflict when it comes to having a student whose presence in these United States was not accomplished according to the rules.  The way I resolve that conflict is to embrace the fiction that the law enforcement personnel are doing their jobs, thereby allowing me to ignore the immigration status matters and conduct an unimpeded professor-student relationship.   My students need to be able to approach me freely if they are to truly learn the subjects I teach.  Unless a student whom I know to be here illegally commits some sort of violence or larceny or other infraction of the safety and security of real Americans, I do not get involved in the immigration issues.

            Yesterday, I was giving a presentation to a group of my fellow faculty members.  None of my students (nor anyone else's students) were present.  During the presentation, I had occasion to mention that the exemptions from the insurance requirements of this Barack Hussein ObamaCare naufragio include "jailbirds and illegal aliens." 

            Three in the room, myself included, espoused what is commonly called the right-wing sentiment.  The remaining two dozen or so were approximately equally divided between the leftists and the überleftists.  One of the more vocal (and more über) of the überleftists took great umbrage at my use of the term "illegal alien."  She indignantly interrupted my presentation:  "They are NOT "illegal aliens!  They are undocumented immigrants!"

            I don't know how I was able to muster up the presence of mind for my immediate response:  "Janetta, if they were legal then there would be documentation!"

            Some of the leftists gave me a look of grudging approval.  Political leanings notwithstanding, Janetta had been grating on them, and they were happy to see her get a comeuppance.

            After the meeting, one of the more rational of the leftists, who works with preparing female prison inmates for release and  reintegration into society, came up to me and said, "I wish that you wouldn't refer to prison inmates as 'jailbirds.'"

            Seems that the Political Correctness Police are on patrol!