He's responding to a tweet that displays this video of Massachussetts governor Maura Healy saying listening to* "Everyone has something they can offer" and inviting citizens to offer their homes as housing for those who are in the country illegally:
Are you willing to have "an additional family be part of your family"?6 months ago, Massachusetts began to ask residents to host illegals in their homes and properties.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 11, 2024
Soon it will be mandatory. pic.twitter.com/wyhjXlxWDf
I note that Musk uses the emotive expression "illegals," but what is the respectful term? I found this Department of Justice memo recommending "undocumented noncitizen"and "undocumented individual," but these terms don't fit easily in conversation and they confusingly suggest that it's about paperwork and bureaucracy.
ADDED: I'm seeing some people nudging me to accept "illegal aliens" as the respectful term. That's more respectful than "illegals," but it is not respectful. First, even "aliens" is rejected. As you can see from that memo, the current preference is "noncitizen." Second, it's bad to say that the person is "illegal." Their entry into our country was illegal, but they are human beings. It's crude (and nonsensical) to describe the entire person as illegal. A person is not a thing. To say "illegal immigrant" is not like saying "illegal drugs." I would say "a person who has illegally immigrated," but that's too long to work in natural conversation.
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AND YET: We don't generally follow a rule of refraining from referring to a person by one thing that he has done. If a person escapes from prison, we wouldn't refrain from calling him a "fugitive." We wouldn't think it was important to display our goodness by eschewing the simple expression and calling him "a person who has escaped from prison."
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