NEW YORK — The Associated Press announced on Tuesday that its Stylebook no longer sanctions the term "illegal immigrant" or the use of "illegal" to describe a person.
Instead, the AP Stylebook now tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.
The updated entry reads as follows:
<em><strong>illegal immigration</strong> 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.</em>
<em>Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien, an illegal, illegalsor undocumented.</em>
<em>Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution.</em>
<em>Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?</em>
<em>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.</em>