As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carried out more than 10,000 arrests in just five days last week, a familiar slogan resurfaced among activists and online commentators opposing the operations: “No human is illegal.” The phrase is deployed as a moral trump card, implying that any enforcement of immigration law is inherently cruel or bigoted. It is past time to put this loaded slogan under a microscope. Americans who support secure borders must recognize it for what it is—emotional manipulation designed to erode the distinction between lawful and unlawful presence in our country.
The slogan cynically assumes the worst about what people who favor strong immigration enforcement believe; namely, that a person who has violated our immigration laws is lacking inherent human dignity. No serious person claims that. What it deliberately obscures is that “illegal” is a legal term describing an action: entering the United States without authorization or remaining after a visa expires. Nations have always maintained the sovereign right to decide who may enter and under what conditions. Every country on Earth enforces immigration laws. Pretending the United States is uniquely cruel for doing so is the kind of selective outrage and self-loathing that anti-borders activists have perfected over time.
This rhetorical sleight of hand serves a clear political purpose. By framing border enforcement as an attack on humanity itself, the slogan shifts the debate away from practical questions of sovereignty, public safety, fiscal costs, and fairness to legal immigrants. It paints any deportation—even of violent, convicted criminals—as morally equivalent to denying someone’s humanity. That is destructive propaganda that has worked on too many and has polarized our nation.
Prominent figures have let their extremist flag fly by weaponizing this language for years. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly framed strict immigration enforcement in apocalyptic terms, equating detention facilities with concentration camps and calling for the abolition of ICE. She is one of the leading propagandists selling the “no human is illegal” worldview, suggesting that any distinction between legal and illegal entry is illegitimate.
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Activists echoing her message during recent protests in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Newark have carried signs and chanted variations of the slogan while opposing the current enforcement surge. Radical anti-borders groups like the ACLU have promoted merchandise and statements declaring “No person is illegal,” often in direct response to operations targeting individuals with criminal records.
Legal immigration has always been part of America’s story, and millions wait in line to follow the rules. “No human is illegal” erases that line. It implies that anyone who shows up should be allowed to stay, consequences be damned. In practice, this means surrendered borders by another name: no meaningful enforcement, no consequences for unlawful entry, and no priority for those who respect the process.
Consider the real-world results of policies inspired by this mindset. Sanctuary jurisdictions that effectively adopt the “no human is illegal” approach by ignoring ICE detainers have released individuals later charged with serious crimes. Recent examples include cases in Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia and elsewhere where ignored detainers led to violent offenses. Meanwhile, the latest ICE operations have focused heavily on individuals with convictions for murder, rape, sexual exploitation of minors, and drug trafficking. These are not “hardworking families” being “torn apart” for minor paperwork issues. They are people whose presence here already violated the law and who then committed additional crimes against Americans.
The slogan also ignores the tangible burdens on citizens. Illegal migration strains schools, hospitals, and welfare systems funded by American taxpayers. It depresses wages for citizens and legal residents, particularly in low-skill job sectors. And it undermines the rule of law that protects everyone, including legal immigrants who play by the rules. When activists demand we “shut down” enforcement or abolish the agency responsible for interior removals, they are not advocating humane reform. They are instead advocating the effective nullification of immigration law.
Secure borders are not anti-human; they are pro-sovereignty and pro-order. Countries that lose control of their borders lose the ability to maintain the social contract that makes generous policies possible in the first place. The United States can and should maintain a robust but manageable legal immigration system while enforcing consequences for illegal entry. That is not hatred. It is basic, good governance.
The phrase “no human is illegal” is crafted to short-circuit debate with emotion. It conflates the worth of a person with the legality of their actions. It dismisses the experiences of Americans harmed by lax enforcement and the patience of those waiting legally to immigrate. Those who value safe, prosperous communities should reject this slogan and the toxic policy agenda it conceals.
Brian Lonergan is director of strategic communications and content at the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C., and co-host of the “No Border, No Country” podcast.
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