Associated Press drops ‘illegal immigrant’ from writing guide
Apr 2, 2013, 6:01 PM
The Associated Press will no longer use the term “illegal immigrant.”
According to the news agency’s blog, the term “illegal” will only be applied to an action, such as living or immigrating illegally.
AP added the following instructions to its stylebook on Tuesday:
illegal immigration Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant. Acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission.
Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented.
Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution.
Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?
People who were brought into the country as children should not be described as having immigrated illegally. For people granted a temporary right to remain in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, use temporary resident status, with details on the program lower in the story.
AP cited the evolving English language as a reason for the change.
