By: Daniel Nardini
The Associated Press (AP), one of the world’s largest news service organizations, is changing the terms it uses to describe those who do not have the necessary paperwork to be in the United States for whatever purpose. Before, AP used the terms “illegals immigrants” and “illegals” to describe those without the necessary paperwork. But as AP has discovered, the terms are not always accurate, and create extreme prejudice against those who may not have all or part of the necessary paperwork for them to be in this country. Because those who are undocumented cannot show the paperwork they need to have to prove they have legal status does not mean that they are truly illegal in this country. There are in fact three categories of undocumented who are in this country without the necessary paperwork but are not necessarily illegal.
The first such category are the refugees. Because of the incredible backlog of paperwork for those who have come here to seek asylum, many refugees do not have the paperwork on-hand to prove that they are refugees. It is not unknown for so many refugees to not have the legal residency papers required to prove their status. If they are required to prove their status (especially asked by employers), they can refer any and all to immigration to verify their status. But this is a time consuming effort, and it can take hours of even days. Many businesses do not have the resources or time to try and find someone in the system. The second category are those spouses of U.S. citizens. Again, because of the huge backlog of those applying for legal permanent residency, many spouses of U.S. citizens cannot prove themselves to be legally here since they were not always given the paperwork they need (even temporary legal paperwork is not always given to spouses of U.S. citizens).
The third category are those who were at first illegally here but who for some reason or another are now adjusting their legal status. This category is in a way murky. Depending on the situation, an undocumented person may be granted some form of legal status. This may include workers who were brought over by some company but who were ill-treated by their employer and hence the federal government is trying to make amends for what they may have suffered. This may include the undocumented wives of spouses who were badly abused and who are now in some kind of witness protection program. This may also include people who were brought over by criminals and held hostage as slave labor for the benefit of gangsters. Many times these people are simply waiting for whatever paperwork is bring processed, but who cannot prove their status because they have no paperwork yet. It is possible they could be put into double jeopardy by state anti-immigration laws by being required to “prove” their identity when demanded by local authorities to do so (the “show us your papers” laws).
Of course, there are those who came to this country without any paperwork or any permission from the U.S. government and are in this country illegally because of it. They may even make up the majority of all those who are undocumented. But again this is but one category of the undocumented, and I believe that AP has begun to recognize this dilemma. So they are using either the two neutral terms “undocumented” or “unauthorized” to describe those without the necessary paperwork. But in my view the term “undocumented” is the more accurate and more neutral because “unauthorized” again has connotations of someone being illegally here when in fact they may not be. Hopefully other news media will follow AP’s lead in the terminology they use for the undocumented.
AP and the New Terminology
By: Daniel Nardini
The first such category are the refugees. Because of the incredible backlog of paperwork for those who have come here to seek asylum, many refugees do not have the paperwork on-hand to prove that they are refugees. It is not unknown for so many refugees to not have the legal residency papers required to prove their status. If they are required to prove their status (especially asked by employers), they can refer any and all to immigration to verify their status. But this is a time consuming effort, and it can take hours of even days. Many businesses do not have the resources or time to try and find someone in the system. The second category are those spouses of U.S. citizens. Again, because of the huge backlog of those applying for legal permanent residency, many spouses of U.S. citizens cannot prove themselves to be legally here since they were not always given the paperwork they need (even temporary legal paperwork is not always given to spouses of U.S. citizens).
The third category are those who were at first illegally here but who for some reason or another are now adjusting their legal status. This category is in a way murky. Depending on the situation, an undocumented person may be granted some form of legal status. This may include workers who were brought over by some company but who were ill-treated by their employer and hence the federal government is trying to make amends for what they may have suffered. This may include the undocumented wives of spouses who were badly abused and who are now in some kind of witness protection program. This may also include people who were brought over by criminals and held hostage as slave labor for the benefit of gangsters. Many times these people are simply waiting for whatever paperwork is bring processed, but who cannot prove their status because they have no paperwork yet. It is possible they could be put into double jeopardy by state anti-immigration laws by being required to “prove” their identity when demanded by local authorities to do so (the “show us your papers” laws).
Of course, there are those who came to this country without any paperwork or any permission from the U.S. government and are in this country illegally because of it. They may even make up the majority of all those who are undocumented. But again this is but one category of the undocumented, and I believe that AP has begun to recognize this dilemma. So they are using either the two neutral terms “undocumented” or “unauthorized” to describe those without the necessary paperwork. But in my view the term “undocumented” is the more accurate and more neutral because “unauthorized” again has connotations of someone being illegally here when in fact they may not be. Hopefully other news media will follow AP’s lead in the terminology they use for the undocumented.