I'd really like to know what Hillary means by "No woman is illegal". (I think it's likely that she said "no one is illegal", so let's not worry about the gender issue.)
Clinton and her busload of traveling press moved from there to the popular local Mexican restaurant Lindo Michoacan, where a "roundtable" that was actually square passed a microphone around to tell her people's concerns about the mortgage crisis and foreclosures. She took notes and munched on tortilla chips. ...A man shouted through an opening in the wall that his wife was illegal.
"No woman is illegal," Clinton said, to cheers.
Unless she's making a statement about the legality of a person's mere existence, I can only assume that Hillary means that no one is in America illegally -- which is strictly false. Maybe she means that the country shouldn't have any immigration laws that restrict immigration -- thereby labeling people here without permission as "illegal immigrants". If that's what she means, I think she'll have a hard time making her case.
There are six billion people in the world, and most of them would probably like to live here if they had the opportunity. Does Hillary think we should open our borders to all-comers, or just to Mexicans and South Americans? Does she think we should grant amnesty to everyone here now and then start protecting the border? I doubt it, because we'd quickly have "illegal" people once again, and "no woman is illegal!".
It's a nice, idealistic idea that we should live in a world without borders, but the reality is that in such a world Americans would be the biggest losers. I doubt that's a winning political position.
I agree that the phrase "illegal alien" is awkward. Only actions can be illegal. We already have a noun to refer to people who commit illegal acts. They are criminals.
That simple change in vocabulary would solve all sorts of problems in the immigration debate. Try saying with a straight face: "Millions of criminals are living in the shadows," or, "Criminals shouldn't be afraid to call the police to report a crime," or, "State and municipal governments have no duty to help federal officials identify and apprehend criminals."