What Does Illegal Mean Anymore?

Illegal: Not legal; unlawful; contrary to law (Webster 1828 Dictionary)

Illegal: contrary to or in violation of a law (1996 Legal Dictionary)

The definition of illegal has not seemed to change since the first American Dictionary was put together, yet I am baffled at times as to how it is applied. I recently read that in February, the County College of Morris, NJ had a vote and decided to charge illegal aliens (there is that word) who applied for schooling, the same discounted tuition rate as in-state residents. This decision was recently voted on again, and by a 9-to-2 vote resulted in a reversal of this earlier decision.

The reversal vote was prompted when the group Judicial Watch wrote the school a letter telling them their action was illegal (there is that word again). The group threatened legal action against the school over the decision, of which one of the trustee chairs, Elain Johnson, commented that the boards reversal on the decision had nothing to do with sound legal reasoning, but was only based on “bigotry, hatred, threats and lies.” Another trustee commented saying “I’m not in favor of defending in court a vote of ours that might cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.”

Now, with that reversal, the tuition rate for illegal immigrants will be $9,780 annually, rather than the in-state rate of $3,450.

Now, that story is all fine and good, but I am perplexed at the over arching issue. An "illegal immigrant" as mentioned above, by definition is "an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa." So how is it that a state-managed college, as being connected with the US Government, could/would allow a known and identified "illegal immigrant" to enroll for classes to begin with? Does "illegal" mean against the law, and doesn't again the law mean when you are caught you are punished based on the law broken?

If I as a business owner went out and hired a whole staff of illegal immigrants, could I publically make that fact known to everyone without fearing any kind of recourse or legal action to occur? My impression is that I would definitely be charged with breaking the law, and therefore punished. So how does a school vote to openly and knowingly break the law?

Does illegal no longer mean "against the law," and no longer bears punishment for breaking a law? What do you think?

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Education Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.