General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: ‘Illegal immigrant’ no more [View all]StrayKat
(570 posts)It's good to be removing the pejorative "illegal" from the press' vernacular, but the solution that AP gave is unsatisfactory. They need to coin a term. As long as "illegal alien" is quicker and easier to write or say than the alternative, it will continue to be used.
I remember a similar issue came up with county workers creating press releases and PSAs that referred to county citizens. Of course, no one is a citizen of a county and some of the programs were open to non-US citizens, etc. The alternative given was to refer to "people who live or work in the county". Despite numerous reminders, people still revert to "citizen"; it is just too convenient a term.
Additionally, the change also begs the question of how to refer to 'legal aliens'.