EXTRA, EXTRA!

December 13, 2011
The Style Book of the NYT Drops Use of Term “ILLEGALS” to Describe Immigrants without Legal Status.

Op-Ed columnist Bill Keller responded to comments related to use of the NYT’s use of the term “illegals.” Keller announced the change after letters poured in from offended readers. An exchange with Phil B. Corbett who oversees language issues for the newsroom followed.

Readers across the country had objected to use of the term. According to Professor Michael A. Olivas of the Houston Law Center, one of nation’s foremost experts on immigration law who shared his views with Keller, “the language used in this discourse counts, and people cannot be illegal. Their actions may be, or the actions of their parents may be, but they cannot be illegal. [“Illegals”] is not justified in any sense of the criminological, linguistic, or cultural uses of the term.”

A link to Keller’s blog at the NYT explaining the reason for the change, is here.