The Associated Press has created a new term for illegal immigrants saved from deportation by former President Obama’s Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program: “undocumented citizens.”
Information Liberation highlighted the new AP term used recently in a report about Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel badmounthing President Trump’s decision to end the illegal program published on Tuesday.
The initial report, taken from the Chicago Sun-Times, quotes Emanuel telling students at the Solorio Academy High School they’re “welcome in the city of Chicago,” followed by the line: “The Chicago Sun-Times reports that school officials say a third of the school’s students are undocumented citizens.”
That phrasing was apparently changed, however, after several news sites pointed out that DACA students are neither “undocumented” nor “citizens.”
The story now reads: “The Chicago Sun-Times reports that school officials say about a third of the school’s students are living in the country illegally.”
The AP also issued a clarification about the incident:
In a story Sept. 5 about Mayor Rahm Emanuel telling Chicago students they “have nothing to worry about” as President Donald Trump’s administration winds down a program protecting young immigrants from deportation, The Associated Press incorrectly described the students who could be affected.
They are living in the country illegally, not undocumented citizens.
Breitbart was among the first to chastise the news service after the initial report came out on Thursday.
“The AP had yet to use the ‘undocumented citizens’ term – until now. The term incorrectly cites that illegal alien DACA recipients are undocumented, despite the documented status by the federal government. The term also incorrectly gives U.S. citizenship to illegal alien DACA recipients, despite none of the program’s recipients holding citizenship,” Breitbart reported.
It’s also not the first time the AP has tried to gloss over the crimes committed by immigrants who stroll across the border or come into the country illegally.
AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explained in a blog post why the news service dropped the description “illegal immigrant” from its lexicon in 2013.
“The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term ‘illegal immigrant’ or the use of ‘illegal’ to describe a person,” the post read, according to The Washington Post. “Instead, it tells users that ‘illegal’ should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.”
The AP has also rejected the term “undocumented immigrants” because some illegal immigrants have documentation, though it’s not the proper documentation.
Instead, the AP suggests, journalists should “specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegal and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?”
Regardless, the soft language used to describe illegal immigrants is only one of several of the AP’s linguistic nuances that seem to favor a liberal mindset.
The Hill in July highlighted several others included in the 2017 AP Stylebook.
The AP Stylebook instructs, “Use anti-abortion instead of pro-life and pro-abortion rights instead of pro-abortion or pro-choice.” It goes on, “Avoid abortionist,” saying the term “connotes a person who performs clandestine abortions.”
Words related to terrorism are sanitized in the AP Stylebook. “Militant,” “lone wolves” or “attackers” are to be used instead of terrorist or Islamist. “People struggling to enter Europe” is favored over “migrant” or “refugee.” While it’s true that many struggle to enter Europe, it is accurate to point out that they are, in fact, immigrants or refugees.
“Illegal immigrant” and “undocumented” aren’t acceptable anymore either. “Illegals” and “alien” were already forbidden a few years ago.
Other suggestions include the use of the word “assault weapons” for semi-automatic rifles with aftermarket parts, and the phrase “climate change doubters” for anyone who doesn’t accept the “mainstream climate science” that manmade global warming is a big problem.
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