12 million immigrants: Illegal or undocumented?

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article. Of all the issues in the Great Immigration Debate 2006, the one I find the most fascinating is the issue of "breaking the law".

Note the very last bullet point in the article:

Illegal presence in the US is a civil, not a criminal, offense. If apprehended, undocumented immigrants can demand a hearing to appeal deportation.

My emphasis.

I can't tell you how many times in the past week I have seen tirades against "illegals" framed in the context that being an "illegal" was as bad as arson or burglary or murder.

Civil offense, dudes!

The point of legality in the whole debate ignores the fact that the only "crime" that most "illegals" have commited have been merely this. That is a function of the quota system, of public policy, nothing else.

And if there are 12 million "illegals", maybe the true issue is the broken quota system.