The First Illegals

About The Book

"No human being is illegal."

This phrase, "No human being is illegal," was and still is a rallying cry of the human rights movement in the 1980s and 90s, championed by activists and survivors like Elie Wiesel. It was a moral assertion that a person's existence cannot be a crime.

But in the political discourse of 2025, the word "Illegal" has been weaponized. The Right has turned it into a noun, a linguistic brand used to strip individuals of their rights, their dignity, and their history.

Illegal is used to justify cages, family separations, and the dehumanization of those seeking safety.

In this book, we are going to reclaim that word. We are going to take the weapon out of the hands of the politician and aim it at the historian.

To prevent historical amnesia, I have established a specific styling rule for this text. Throughout this narrative, I use the term "Illegal" intentionally, ironically, and exclusively to describe

the Anglo-European male settlers who arrived in Jamestown in 1607, Plymouth in 1620, and the relentless waves of colonial expansion that followed.