This morning, I have been browsing my dictionary (One may usually be forgiven for spending large chunks of one’s life browsing an encyclopedia ... but browsing through a dictionary?).
I had wondered about the words, ‘emigrate’ and ‘immigrate’ as they could be misunderstood in today’s undercurrent of so-called ‘refugee’ chaos.
It was surprising to learn that both words were indicating an unfortunate status of permanence (“... comes to live permanently ....”) I wondered at the political significance of this fact, and worried at its’ use for illegal economic migrants or ‘so-called’ temporary immigrants ... obviously, the latter cannot exist without an academic amendment to our dictionaries.
It seems to me that these two words should never be used in the context of refugees and illegal asylum seekers. Acceptance as immigrants immediately grants them permanence ... until an immigration authority (CIC), following strict guidelines, grants them permanent status.
Therefore, it behooves all immigration authorities to, not only, give permanent status, but equally, expedite tough deportation procedures.
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