{"id":2040,"date":"2013-04-03T10:17:47","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T10:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.temp.shooflysolutions.com\/associated-press-no-human-being-is-illegal\/"},"modified":"2013-04-03T10:17:47","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T10:17:47","slug":"associated-press-no-human-being-is-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/2013\/04\/03\/associated-press-no-human-being-is-illegal\/","title":{"rendered":"ASSOCIATED PRESS: NO HUMAN BEING IS 'ILLEGAL'"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IllegalThe AP is dropping the term “Illegal Immigrant” from its writing stylebook, which is the standard go to guide for all journalists. Of course, you know that means the right wing is going to lose their minds, as Fox & Friends Steve Doocy already did<\/a>, and create their own “stylebook” to counter the liberal AP’s. Good luck with that.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Associated Press<\/a><\/h2>\n

The AP Stylebook today is making some changes in how we describe people living in a country illegally.<\/p>\n

Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explains the thinking behind the decision:<\/p>\n

The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term \u201cillegal immigrant\u201d or the use of \u201cillegal\u201d to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that \u201cillegal\u201d should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally. <\/p>\n

Why did we make the change?<\/p>\n

The discussions on this topic have been wide-ranging and include many people from many walks of life. (Earlier, they led us to reject descriptions such as \u201cundocumented,\u201d despite ardent support from some quarters, because it is not precise. A person may have plenty of documents, just not the ones required for legal residence.)<\/p>\n

Those discussions continued even after AP affirmed<\/a> \u201cillegal immigrant\u201d as the best use, for two reasons.<\/p>\n

A number of people felt that \u201cillegal immigrant\u201d was the best choice at the time. They also believed the always-evolving English language might soon yield a different choice and we should stay in the conversation.<\/p>\n

Also, we had in other areas been ridding the Stylebook of labels. The new section<\/a> on mental health issues argues for using credibly sourced diagnoses instead of labels. Saying someone was \u201cdiagnosed with schizophrenia\u201d instead of schizophrenic, for example.<\/p>\n

And that discussion about labeling people, instead of behavior, led us back to \u201cillegal immigrant\u201d again.<\/p>\n

We concluded that to be consistent, we needed to change our guidance.<\/p>\n

So we have.<\/p>\n

Is this the best way to describe someone in a country without permission? We believe that it is for now. We also believe more evolution is likely down the road.<\/p>\n

Will the new guidance make it harder for writers? Perhaps just a bit at first. But while labels may be more facile, they are not accurate.<\/p>\n

I suspect now we will hear from some language lovers who will find other labels in the AP Stylebook. We welcome that engagement. Get in touch at <\/a>stylebook@ap.org<\/a>  or, if you are an AP Stylebook Online subscriber, through the \u201cAsk the Editor\u201d page.<\/p>\n

Change is a part of AP Style because the English language is constantly evolving, enriched by new words, phrases and uses. Our goal always is to use the most precise and accurate words so that the meaning is clear to any reader anywhere.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The updated entry is being added immediately to the AP Stylebook Online<\/a> and Manual de Estilo Online de la AP<\/a>, the new Spanish-language Stylebook. It also will appear in the new print edition and Stylebook Mobile<\/a>, coming out later in the spring. It reads as follows:<\/p>\n

illegal immigration<\/b> Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal<\/i> only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration<\/i>, but not illegal immigrant<\/i>. Acceptable variations include living in<\/i> or entering a country illegally<\/i> or without legal permission.<\/i> <\/p>\n

Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien<\/i>, an illegal<\/i>, illegals<\/i>or undocumented<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution.<\/p>\n

Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?<\/p>\n

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<\/em>, with details on the program lower in the story.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The AP is dropping the term “Illegal Immigrant” from its writing stylebook, which is the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}