LATimes And Immigration-Speak

Updated. See below

A crowd estimated by police at more than 500,000 boisterously marched in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall along the U.S.' southern border.

So leads the LATimes story on yesterday's anti-immigration-law march. One has to wonder: Is it La Times, not LATimes, to go along with paper's Spanish-language La Opinion?

"Undocumented?" Oh, I have my documents, they're just not with me. Please. The word is "illegal."

"Those who help them?" Codeword for companies that break the law by hiring illegals.

Later:

Saturday's rally represented a massive response, part of what immigration advocates are calling an unprecedented effort to mobilize immigrants and their supporters nationwide.

"Immigration advocates?" I believe the right phrase is "Illegal immigration advocates." The LATimes continues in its quest to define those who want a stricter border policy to be anti-immigration. Wrong.

Don't think the LATimes hasn't thought about the importance of these words. The paper isn't making careless usage mistakes here; it is utilizing the words its editors have decided, after careful consideration, to use.

Update: Patterico checks into the law and finds:

Here’s the thing, though: illegal immigration is already a crime, punishable by 6 months in prison. By making illegal entry a felony, the bill simply increases the penalty from 6 months to a year and a day.

I wonder how many of the 500,000 marchers understood that.