Our Values Are

Historical Context

The phrase "No Human Is Illegal" represents a powerful assertion of human dignity that challenges the criminalization and dehumanization of immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented. This declaration has deep historical roots in human rights frameworks and has become a rallying cry for immigrant justice movements worldwide.

While the exact origins of the phrase are difficult to pinpoint, it is widely attributed to Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel. In various speeches and writings, Wiesel emphasized that labeling human beings as "illegal" denies their fundamental humanity and dignity.1 The phrase gained prominence as a slogan during immigrant rights movements in the United States and Europe, particularly in response to increasingly restrictive immigration policies and rhetoric in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

To understand the significance of this statement, we must examine the historical development of concepts like citizenship, national borders, and the criminalization of migration. While human movement across territories has been a constant throughout history, the strict regulation of migration through passport systems, visa requirements, and border enforcement is relatively recent, largely developing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as nation-states consolidated power and defined membership through citizenship.2

In the United States, immigration policy has historically reflected shifting economic needs, racial anxieties, and political pressures. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 marked the first major federal law restricting immigration based explicitly on nationality and race.

Throughout the 20th century, immigration policy continued to reflect racial hierarchies, with the 1924 Immigration Act establishing national origin quotas that favored Northern and Western Europeans while severely restricting immigration from Asia, Africa, and Southern and Eastern Europe.3

The term "illegal alien" began appearing in American political discourse and law in the early 20th century, but its widespread use intensified with the establishment of numerical limits on Western Hemisphere immigration in 1965 and subsequent enforcement efforts. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 further criminalized undocumented immigration by imposing penalties on employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers, while also creating a pathway to legal status for some undocumented immigrants already in the country.4

The 1990s saw increasing militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border under both Republican and Democratic administrations, with operations like "Hold the Line" and "Gatekeeper" channeling migration away from urban areas to more dangerous desert regions—a strategy that has contributed to thousands of deaths.5 The aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks brought further securitization of immigration, with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 bringing immigration enforcement under the same umbrella as counter-terrorism.

This criminalization of migration is not unique to the United States. Across Europe, Australia, and other regions, increasingly restrictive immigration policies have similarly framed unauthorized migration as a crime and security threat rather than a human phenomenon driven by complex factors including economic necessity, political persecution, family reunification, and environmental displacement.6

The language used to describe immigrants reflects and reinforces these policy approaches. Terms like "illegal alien," "illegal immigrant," or simply "illegals" reduce human beings to their immigration status and implicitly deny their rights and dignity. Many journalists, human rights organizations, and immigration advocates have shifted to terms like "undocumented immigrant" or "unauthorized immigrant" to avoid this dehumanizing language.7

Against this backdrop, the assertion that "No Human Is Illegal" emerges as a direct challenge to the criminalization of migration and the people who migrate. It draws on international human rights principles established after World War II, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which recognizes that "everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution" (Article 14) and that "everyone has the right to a nationality" (Article 15).8

The phrase also connects to broader social justice movements that recognize the intersections between immigration, racial justice, economic justice, and decolonization. It acknowledges that modern immigration patterns often follow colonial routes and that the wealth disparities driving migration frequently stem from historical exploitation and ongoing economic policies that disadvantage Global South countries.9

In recent decades, immigrant-led organizations have increasingly centered the voices and leadership of undocumented people themselves, shifting from advocacy approaches that relied primarily on citizen allies to movements built around the principle of "Nothing About Us Without Us." Groups like United We Dream, the UndocuBlack Network, and the National Domestic Workers Alliance have asserted the agency and power of immigrant communities rather than portraying them solely as victims in need of help.10

The declaration that "No Human Is Illegal" thus represents not just a linguistic preference but a fundamental challenge to frameworks that criminalize human movement and deny the inherent dignity of people who cross borders without authorization. It asserts that immigration status should not determine human worth or rights, and invites us to imagine more just approaches to human movement and community belonging.

Current Challenges

Despite growing recognition of the dehumanizing nature of terms like "illegal immigrant," numerous challenges persist in realizing the principle that "No Human Is Illegal":

Criminalization of Migration

Around the world, unauthorized migration continues to be treated primarily as a criminal or security issue rather than a human rights or humanitarian concern. This approach manifests in various ways:

• Criminal penalties for unauthorized entry or presence, ranging from fines to imprisonment, that punish the act of migration itself rather than addressing underlying causes

• Detention practices that incarcerate immigrants, including families and children, often in prison-like conditions while awaiting immigration proceedings11

• Militarized border enforcement that treats migrants as security threats and employs increasingly sophisticated surveillance technology, barriers, and armed personnel

• Criminalization of humanitarian aid through laws that prosecute individuals and organizations providing water, food, shelter, or medical care to migrants in distress12

This criminalization approach has serious human costs. Between 2014 and 2022, more than 50,000 migrants were documented to have died during migration journeys worldwide, with the actual number likely much higher due to underreporting.13 Many of these deaths result directly from policies that channel migration through dangerous routes or prevent humanitarian responses.

Dehumanizing Rhetoric and Media Coverage

Political rhetoric and media coverage continue to frame immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented, in dehumanizing terms. Metaphors like "floods," "invasions," or "infestations" portray migrants as threats rather than human beings responding to complex circumstances.14 Studies of media coverage show persistent patterns of associating immigration with crime, economic burden, or cultural threat, even when evidence contradicts these associations.15

This rhetoric has real consequences. Research demonstrates that dehumanizing language about immigrants correlates with increased support for restrictive policies and decreased empathy for migrant suffering.16 It also contributes to hate crimes and discrimination against immigrant communities and those perceived as immigrants, regardless of their actual status.

Limited Pathways to Legal Status

For many people, legal pathways to migration are severely limited or non-existent. Current immigration systems typically prioritize certain types of migrants—those with family connections, significant financial resources, or specialized skills—while offering few options for others, regardless of their needs or circumstances.

In the United States, for example, there is virtually no pathway for a low-income person from Central America or Mexico to legally immigrate without immediate family who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Asylum systems, designed to protect those fleeing persecution, have become increasingly restrictive and often fail to recognize modern forms of persecution or displacement, such as gang violence or climate change impacts.17

This lack of legal pathways, combined with persistent migration pressures driven by economic inequality, political instability, violence, and environmental degradation, ensures that irregular migration will continue regardless of enforcement efforts.

Rights Restrictions Based on Immigration Status

Undocumented immigrants and those with temporary or precarious status face significant restrictions on their rights and access to services in most countries. These restrictions can include:

• Limited or no access to healthcare, education, housing assistance, and social safety net programs

• Inability to legally work or obtain professional licenses in their fields of expertise

• Barriers to opening bank accounts, obtaining identification, or securing housing

• Constant vulnerability to exploitation by employers, landlords, or others who may threaten to report them to immigration authorities

• Limited due process protections in immigration proceedings compared to criminal courts18

These restrictions create conditions where undocumented people are forced to live in shadows, vulnerable to exploitation and unable to fully participate in or contribute to their communities.

Family Separation and Community Disruption

Immigration enforcement policies frequently separate families and disrupt communities. Deportations often tear apart mixed-status families where some members are citizens or legal residents while others are undocumented. Between 2011 and 2013 alone, over 200,000 deportations involved parents of U.S. citizen children, creating lasting trauma for these families.19

Beyond formal deportation, the constant threat of enforcement creates a climate of fear in immigrant communities. This fear can prevent people from accessing essential services, reporting crimes, or participating in community institutions like schools, churches, or civic organizations. The cumulative effect is communities living in chronic stress and instability.

Global Inequality and Root Causes

Current immigration policies largely focus on enforcement rather than addressing the root causes that drive migration. These causes include:

• Economic inequality between nations, often exacerbated by trade policies that disadvantage poorer countries

• Political instability and violence, including civil wars, gang violence, and domestic violence that force people to flee for safety

• Climate change impacts like drought, flooding, and extreme weather events that displace communities

• Resource extraction and land dispossession that undermine traditional livelihoods20

Without addressing these root causes, even the most aggressive enforcement approaches will at best redirect rather than resolve migration pressures.

Externalization of Border Enforcement

Many wealthy nations have increasingly "externalized" their border enforcement by pressuring transit countries to stop migrants before they reach their destinations. The European Union has agreements with Turkey, Libya, and other North African countries, while the United States has pushed Mexico and Central American nations to increase their own immigration enforcement.21

This approach effectively outsources border control to countries with fewer resources and often weaker human rights protections, placing migrants at greater risk of abuse, extortion, and violence. It also raises serious questions about responsibility-sharing in addressing global migration challenges.

What We Can Do

Advancing the principle that "No Human Is Illegal" requires action at multiple levels:

Individual Actions

• Examine your own language and attitudes about immigration, shifting from terms like "illegal immigrant" to more accurate and humane language like "undocumented immigrant" or "person without legal status."

• Learn about migration histories and realities in your community and beyond, including both historical and contemporary migration patterns and the complex factors that drive human movement.

• Amplify immigrant voices and stories by sharing content created by immigrants themselves rather than only stories about them told by others.

• Support immigrant-owned businesses and professional services when possible, contributing to economic opportunity for immigrant communities.

• Intervene when witnessing anti-immigrant harassment or discrimination, expressing solidarity with those targeted and challenging harmful behaviors or comments.

Community Actions

• Create welcoming communities through local policies and practices that ensure all residents can access services and participate in community life regardless of immigration status.

• Support community-based organizations providing direct services to immigrants, including legal assistance, language access, healthcare, education, and other essential supports.

• Establish rapid response networks that can mobilize when community members face detention or deportation, providing legal support, family assistance, and community advocacy.

• Develop know-your-rights trainings to help immigrant community members understand and assert their rights when interacting with law enforcement or immigration authorities.

• Build coalitions across different communities to strengthen immigrant justice work by connecting it with other social justice movements and building broader bases of support.

Legal and Policy Actions

• Advocate for humane immigration policies at local, state, and national levels, including pathways to legal status for undocumented immigrants, more flexible visa systems, and stronger protections for asylum seekers.

• Support sanctuary policies that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement, allowing immigrant community members to interact with police and other officials without fear of deportation.

• Push for detention alternatives that don't rely on incarceration for people navigating immigration proceedings, especially for vulnerable populations like children, pregnant people, and those with health concerns.

• Advocate for ending private immigration detention, which creates profit incentives for detaining more immigrants for longer periods.

• Support international agreements that strengthen refugee protections, create orderly migration pathways, and address root causes of forced migration.

Educational Actions

• Incorporate immigration histories and realities into educational curricula at all levels, helping students understand the complex factors that drive migration and the contributions of immigrants to society.

• Support educational access for immigrant students, including undocumented students, through in-state tuition policies, financial aid access, and supportive campus environments.

• Counter misinformation about immigration with evidence-based information about immigration's impacts on economy, crime rates, and communities.

• Highlight immigrant contributions to society, culture, economy, and community across various fields and contexts.

• Support educators working with immigrant students through training, resources, and policies that help them create inclusive learning environments.

Media and Narrative Actions

• Hold media accountable for dehumanizing language or framing by providing feedback when coverage reinforces harmful stereotypes or uses inappropriate terminology.

• Support immigrant-led media and platforms that center immigrant perspectives and experiences rather than speaking about immigrants without their input.

• Create and share content that humanizes immigration experiences and challenges misconceptions or stereotypes.

• Advocate for ethical journalism guidelines regarding immigration coverage, including language choices, source diversity, and contextual accuracy.

• Amplify success stories that highlight immigrant contributions and achievements across various fields and contexts.

Economic and Workplace Actions

• Support labor protections for all workers regardless of immigration status, recognizing that workplace exploitation of undocumented workers ultimately harms labor standards for everyone.

• Advocate for professional licensing that focuses on skills and qualifications rather than immigration status, allowing immigrants to practice their professions.

• Support ethical recruitment practices that prevent exploitation of migrant workers through transparent contracts, fair wages, and protection from retaliation.

• Recognize the global economic factors driving migration and support more equitable trade and development policies that create opportunities in sending countries.

• Invest in immigrant-led businesses and initiatives through direct support, preferential purchasing, or investment in community development financial institutions that serve immigrant communities.

Organizations Working for Immigrant Justice

If you're looking to support or learn more about immigrant justice initiatives, these organizations are doing important work:

Immigrant-Led Organizations

• United We Dream - The largest immigrant youth-led community in the country, empowering people to develop their leadership and organizing skills

• UndocuBlack Network - A multigenerational network of Black undocumented immigrants advocating for their community

• Movimiento Cosecha - A nonviolent movement fighting for permanent protection, dignity, and respect for all undocumented immigrants

• National Domestic Workers Alliance - Organization working for respect, recognition, and labor protections for domestic workers, many of whom are immigrants

• Detention Watch Network - Coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention

Legal and Policy Organizations

• National Immigration Law Center - Organization dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants and their family members

• Immigrant Legal Resource Center - National nonprofit providing legal trainings, educational materials, and advocacy to advance immigrant rights

• Immigration Equality - Leading LGBTQ+ immigrant rights organization providing representation and advocacy

• National Immigrant Justice Center - Organization dedicated to ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers

• Immigration Hub - Organization focused on advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic communication and direct advocacy

Direct Service and Humanitarian Organizations

• Immigrant Defenders Law Center - Largest deportation defense nonprofit in California providing legal services to immigrants

• RAICES - Texas-based organization providing legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees

• No More Deaths - Humanitarian organization working to end death and suffering in the Mexico-US borderlands

• Al Otro Lado - Binational organization providing legal and humanitarian support to migrants, refugees, and deportees

• International Refugee Assistance Project - Organization providing legal advocacy for refugees and displaced people worldwide

Conclusion

The declaration that "No Human Is Illegal" represents a fundamental affirmation of human dignity that transcends borders, documentation status, or citizenship. It challenges us to recognize that migration is a human phenomenon driven by complex factors including economic necessity, family ties, political persecution, and environmental change—not a crime to be punished or a threat to be contained.

This principle acknowledges that while nations may regulate their borders, such regulations should not deny the humanity of those who cross borders without authorization. It reminds us that immigration status is a legal construct, not an inherent characteristic of any person, and certainly not one that should determine human worth or rights.

As we display the Our Values Are image with its assertion that "NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL," we join a long tradition of human rights advocacy that insists on the dignity of all people regardless of their documentation status. We acknowledge that current immigration systems often fail to reflect this principle, instead criminalizing migration in ways that lead to family separation, community disruption, exploitation, and even death.

By understanding the historical context of immigration policy and enforcement, recognizing current challenges, and taking concrete actions at multiple levels, each of us can contribute to building more humane and just approaches to human movement. This work is not just about immigration policy reform but about fundamental questions of who belongs, whose humanity is recognized, and how we build communities that reflect our highest values.

In a world where nationalist movements increasingly frame immigrants as threats to prosperity, security, or cultural identity, affirming that "No Human Is Illegal" represents an act of moral clarity and courage. It invites us to move beyond fear-based approaches to migration toward policies and practices that recognize our shared humanity and interdependence across borders.

Through education, advocacy, policy change, and cultural transformation, we can work toward a world where no person's existence is deemed illegal, and where all people are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve regardless of where they were born or their documentation status.

References

1. Greenblatt, A. (2010). Elie Wiesel: On Memory and Immigration. NPR. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5024435

2. Torpey, J. (2000). The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship, and the State. Cambridge University Press.

3. Ngai, M. M. (2004). Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton University Press.

4. De Genova, N. P. (2002). Migrant "Illegality" and Deportability in Everyday Life. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31, 419-447.

5. Nevins, J. (2010). Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on "Illegals" and the Remaking of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary. Routledge.

6. Andersson, R. (2014). Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe. University of California Press.

7. Chomsky, A. (2014). Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal. Beacon Press.

8. United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

9. Mayblin, L. (2017). Asylum After Empire: Colonial Legacies in the Politics of Asylum Seeking. Rowman & Littlefield.

10. Nicholls, W. J. (2013). The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate. Stanford University Press.

11. Freedom for Immigrants. (2023). Detention by the Numbers. Retrieved from https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/detention-statistics

12. Amnesty International. (2019). Saving Lives Is Not a Crime: Politically Motivated Legal Harassment of Migrant Human Rights Defenders by the USA. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/0583/2019/en/

13. International Organization for Migration. (2023). Missing Migrants Project. Retrieved from https://missingmigrants.iom.int/

14. Santa Ana, O. (2002). Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Discourse. University of Texas Press.

15. Farris, E. M., & Mohamed, H. S. (2018). Picturing Immigration: How the Media Criminalizes Immigrants. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 6(4), 814-824.

16. Utych, S. M. (2018). How Dehumanization Influences Attitudes toward Immigrants. Political Research Quarterly, 71(2), 440-452.

17. American Immigration Council. (2023). Asylum in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/asylum-united-states

18. National Immigration Law Center. (2022). Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs. Retrieved from https://www.nilc.org/issues/economic-support/overview-immeligfedprograms/

19. Capps, R., Fix, M., & Zong, J. (2016). A Profile of U.S. Children with Unauthorized Immigrant Parents. Migration Policy Institute.

20. Castles, S., de Haas, H., & Miller, M. J. (2014). The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World (5th ed.). Guilford Press.

21. Frelick, B., Kysel, I. M., & Podkul, J. (2016). The Impact of Externalization of Migration Controls on the Rights of Asylum Seekers and Other Migrants. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 4(4), 190-220.