Mark, there are differing views on such matters and all such views
should be respected. The term criminal is generally reserved for those
who have been convicted in a court, before that, they are called
suspects.
There is no doubt that those breaking immigration laws should be
punished, and deporting those who break the rules makes a lot of sense.
The question is, how do we decide if someone has indeed broken the
rules, or is a criminal? We typically do not give police officers the
power to be prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner at the same time.
Granted that visitors should not and would not be entitled to all the
rights that residents of a country would be entitled to, but it's up to
us (as a whole) to decide where to draw the line.
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