Originally Posted by roachboy

the category of "illegal immigrant" or "illegal alien" is a mode of structuring racism, yes. whether it is in itself racist is not obvious---that it can blur into racism in for many people is also obvious, but they add the racism (and so are responsible for it)--what the categories seem to me mostly to be about though is the same kind of odious nonsense that the notion of "terrorist" is about--enabling a distinction us/them inside/outside to be drawn.