I blundered in my post criticing the use of the “touchback” metaphor by misstating what a touchback is. A safety is when you get tackled in your endzone. A touchback is when the other team punts or kicks it into your endzone and you choose to take the ball on the twenty yard line rather than attempt a return.
Either way, my main point stands. The so-called “touchback” provision of the immigration bill requiring illegals to return to their country of origin before applying for one or another form of legal status bears very little resemblance to a touchback in football. It does, however, seem to have a lot in common with tagging up in baseball.
Photo by Flickr user banker12 used under a Creative Commons license
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