Preferred terms to illegal alien, illegal immigrant, or illegal(s). This term describes the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here. Some Latinos say this term more accurately describes people who are in the United States illegally because the word points out that they are undocumented, but does not dehumanize them in the manner that such terms as aliens and illegals do.
[In February 2021, Tracy Renaud, the acting leader of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, issued a memo instructing the agency’s leadership to make the following changes: to no longer refer to people as “illegal alien,” “alien,” or “undocumented alien” in internal and external communications, and to instead use the terms “noncitizen,” “undocumented noncitizen,” or “undocumented individual.”]**Updated Feb. 17, 2021
REFERENCE: National Association of Hispanic Journalists