I propose we stop using the term "immigrant" [View all]

[central scrutinizer]

And start using “refugee”. I believe most of the people attempting to enter the US are fleeing in fear of their lives. Repressive regimes, violent gang warfare, starvation from climate change. Immigrant implies a choice was made.

Many of my ancestors emigrated from Germany in the 1850s. They were farmers and the chance to homestead was a powerful draw. But there were refugees then, too. The Irish fleeing famine. My grandmother’s family fled Russia in 1904 to avoid being conscripted into the Czar’s army to fight Japan.

Framing them as refugees is accurate and a more sympathetic term.