Talk:Plyler v. Doe

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[edit] "Illegal" vs. "undocumented"

Please note that the Supreme Court's opinion in Plyler v. Doe used both "illegal" and "undocumented" when referring to the children in question. It seems pointless to me to have a revert war over the use of one term or the other. I edited the text of the article to use both terms; hopefully that will be acceptable to everyone. Richwales 07:24, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

TheKaplan has edited Plyler v. Doe to use the term "illegal" throughout — citing the AP Stylebook to support the assertion that this should be the preferred usage. Not sure what others may think. I would again note that the text of the Supreme Court's opinion in this case used both "illegal" and "undocumented" when referring to the children whose eligibility for public education was in dispute. Richwales 15:11, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Is the distinction between "illegal" and "undocumented" necessary to the meaning of the article? Or just aesthetics? --Tim4christ17 15:24, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

No real distinction in meaning between the two terms — but, to many people, there are political connotations. As I said, there was a revert war going on over this issue a few weeks ago. Inspired in part by the Supreme Court's opinion in Plyler v. Doe using both terms more or less interchangeably, I edited the article to use both terms as well. I'm still worried that upsetting that balance may set off another revert war, but if that happens, I'll probably leave it to someone else to fight it next time. Richwales 06:02, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Undocumented (illegal) children" vs. "children of the undocumented (illegal)"

The children involved in Plyler v. Doe were born outside the United States and immigrated illegally to the U.S. along with their parents. I added a comment clarifying that this case had nothing to do with the "anchor baby" issue (alien parents having a child in the U.S. in hopes of themselves obtaining legal immigration or citizenship status). Richwales 07:24, 26 June 2006 (UTC)