Is ‘Illegal Immigrant’ the Right Description?

http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes...scription/

http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univisi...d=17291550

Quote from ABC Univision : Vargas, who has written about his own struggles with immigration status in The New York Times Magazine and Time, suggested that outlets use undocumented immigrant or engage in a conversation about alternatives to "illegal."

Hopefully, all news media will start using the proper terminology which is one of the following:

Unauthorized alien

Unauthorized immigrant

My preference is for "unauthorized alien" since the immigration laws refer to "alien" rather than "immigrant"

no..the current legal term is 'illegal alien' not 'illegal immigrant'

Quote from kharvel : http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes...scription/ http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univisi...d=17291550 Hopefully, all news media will start using the proper terminology which is one of the following: Unauthorized alien Unauthorized immigrant My preference is for "unauthorized alien" since the immigration laws refer to "alien" rather than "immigrant"

It is an accurate description of people that have immigrated here against the laws of this nation. If they have come here to live and have not followed the laws, they have immigrated illegally. This makes them an illegal immigrant. Undocumented and unauthorized are also accurate descriptions. Likewise a gun sold without proper documentation would be an "illegal gun", "undocumented gun", "unauthorized gun", or "unregistered gun"..

And what do we call motor vehicle drivers without driving licenses or with suspended licenses? How come we don't hear about "illegal drivers" in the media?

Illegal Immigrant is the right description they are breaking the law by being here.

Quote from kharvel : And what do we call motor vehicle drivers without driving licenses or with suspended licenses? How come we don't hear about "illegal drivers" in the media?

Because people driving without licenses aren't perceived as a huge problem. Have you seen any media articles about people driving without licenses? Are there over 10 million of them? On the other hand I see the term "illegal gun" used pretty frequently to reference undocumented guns, guns with their serial numbers obliterated, etc.

Also, illegal driver may be too broad a description. Someone speeding could be considered an "illegal driver", this is also true for other traffic violations. In terms of immigrants the description is not too broad, so we know what we are talking about. In fact, undocumented immigrants would be a subset of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants would also include documented aliens that have overstayed their visa with the intent to live here.

Doublespeak - George Orwell would be proud.

Illegal Alien always seemed weird to me. I'm fine with Illegal Immigrant. It is an accurate description based on our current laws.

Quote from Xygonn : It is an accurate description of people that have immigrated here against the laws of this nation. If they have come here to live and have not followed the laws, they have immigrated illegally. This makes them an illegal immigrant. Undocumented and unauthorized are also accurate descriptions. Likewise a gun sold without proper documentation would be an "illegal gun", "undocumented gun", "unauthorized gun", or "unregistered gun"..

agree

Quote from kharvel : And what do we call motor vehicle drivers without driving licenses or with suspended licenses? How come we don't hear about "illegal drivers" in the media?

even though this was already answered I think this is because of the time frame. Example.. a person w/ a "suspended license" once had a license and was caught driving from point A to point B. A person who never had a license was caught by the police somewhere in between point A and B. Most likely the time frame from point A to B was pretty small... minutes probably?

If you catch an illegal alien, they entered the country illegally. They most likely were caught days, months or years after entering the county illegally.

Since they're evaded law enforcement for an extended period of time the terminology is not so kind.

At least that's my opinion.. not like it matters.. call anyone who breaks or evades law enforcement the harshest thing you can IMO.

wheres the poll OP?

Federal agencies use illegal alien in publications and employee manuals so to the Feds illegal alien is the proper term for people who came to this country without authorization or stayed beyond their authorized time.

Im going with "foreign colonial invader," myself.

when someone shoplifts is it called an "undocumented purchase"?