Because “no law in any country can tell me I am a criminal”… except every country.

Via Huffington Post:

I am not illegal.

Today I stumbled upon an article that talked about Golden Door, a program aimed to help undocumented students continue their education. The article talks about the expansion of the program and how it has helped 92 undocumented students attend college, and how the all the students who have graduated so far had job offers. Feeling proud of the accomplishments of those involved in the program, and being a part of it myself, I decided to read the comments to read the reaction of those around me.

The negativity that people poured into the comment section was beyond any of my expectations. A man talked about how we are just here to steal jobs. Someone said we need to be deported right now. Another person thought it necessary to talk about our inability to contribute to society. One guy thought it was funny to talk about how if we were somewhere else we would be incarcerated. All of these comments referred to us as illegals.

Illegal is defined as forbidden by law, especially criminal law. I am not defined as forbidden by law. No law in any country can tell me that I am a criminal simply for wanting a better life. I did not come to the U.S. by choice, as I was a child, but I will never resent my parents for making that decision for me. They chose to give up their lives and careers for my wellbeing, and that is more than I could ever ask for. To see the negativity hurts, and it stings to see people truly think of me as a criminal. […]

To say I am illegal is to deny my humanity and reduce me to a criminal. To say we are illegal is to say our entire existence is defined by the laws of a country who thinks of us as numbers not people. I am not a criminal ― we are not criminals ― because we are not illegal. It has taken us years to be able to come out of the shadows, but today we are unafraid. We are unapologetic. We are undocumented.