Watch Undocumented Immigrants Hilariously Respond To Mean Tweets
Immigration reform is more than just a political hot button topic, it’s something that affects millions of people. And these five undocumented immigrants are reminding Twitter trolls that when it comes to mean tweets, everybody hurts.
Inspired by Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment, Jose Antonio Vargas’ organization Define American gathered a group of young undocumented immigrants from the San Francisco Bay Area to read several mean tweets. But while some were taken aback by what they read, others had some hilarious comebacks to the tone-deaf tweets about non-existent benefits for undocumented students, building a great wall to keep “illegal Mexicans” out and more.
The video is part of the organization’s #WordsMatter initiative, which asks presidential candidates and politicians to pledge to stop using the word “illegal” to describe undocumented immigrants.
Vargas has long advocated against both media and politicians using the word to describe immigrants. In a 2012 piece for Time magazine, he explained how “the term dehumanizes and marginalizes the people it seeks to describe.”
Watch these five undocumented immigrants’ perfect mean tweet comebacks in the video above.
H/T Latina
Also on HuffPost:
8 Terms That Are Way Better Than The Slur ‘Anchor Baby’
Americans with undocumented parents
Most people use the slur “anchor baby” to refer to the children of undocumented parents. If that’s the group you’re trying to refer to, this is an easy way to do it accurately. Yes, it’s 12 syllables, but sometimes extra syllables are the price of precision.
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Americans with undocumented parents
Most people use the slur “anchor baby” to refer to the children of undocumented parents. If that’s the group you’re trying to refer to, this is an easy way to do it accurately. Yes, it’s 12 syllables, but sometimes extra syllables are the price of precision.
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Children of foreigners
Bush has said several times that he supports birthright citizenship, but that the government should do more to prevent so-called “birth tourism,” primarily from China. The slur “anchor baby” does not even seem to apply to this group, the vast majority of whom reportedly enter legally on tourist visas and take their children back to China after they’re born. “Children of foreigners,” accurately describes this group. “Children of foreign citizens who enter as tourists to give birth” is longer, still, but more specific.
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Americans
This debate will surely blow over soon. Immigration hardliners do not have enough votes to pass a bill restricting birthright citizenship through Congress, let alone amend the Constitution, which this measure would likely require. So maybe politicians would do best to simply refer to the children of immigrants as “Americans,” which is what they are.
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Babies
Another worthy substitute. When referring to the recently born children of immigrants — whose citizenship, as we’ve noted, is not in question — consider just using the term babies, which is plenty accurate and really short.
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People
This term also works. It’s similar to “babies,” but it encompasses people of all ages.
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Human beings
This is the way U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is also vying for the GOP presidential nomination, went with it in an interview last week with CNBC, in which the reporter asked what Rubio thought of the issue. “They are not just statistics,” Rubio said, refusing to use the term “anchor baby.”“They are human beings with stories.”
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Children of God
If you’re feeling energetic and willing to sacrifice brevity, then you could go with this one, which has the added benefit of showing off your personal faith and sense of respect for others.
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By their individual names
If you want to get really specific about who you’re talking about, you could refer to the people you’re talking to by their individual names. Maybe while engaging in a conversation with them, you can ask what they think of the term “anchor baby.” We have a pretty good idea what they might tell you.
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