Home / Glossary / Illegal Immigrant
Illegal Immigrant
Also written: Illegal immigrant, Illegal immigration, Illegals, An illegal, Illegal
avoid-as-noundehumanizing-termpolitically-contested
At a glance
Source-by-source
“By definition, a person is never illegal; an “illegal immigrant” makes as much a sense as saying an “illegal accountant,” were they accused of tax fraud.”
SumOfUs places 'illegal immigrant' (and 'an illegal') on its list of terms avoided or questioned by immigrant-rights activists, arguing that no person is illegal — calling someone an illegal immigrant makes as little sense as calling an accused accountant an 'illegal accountant.' It treats presuming innocence as a central principle.
“Use people-first language. That reminds us we are talking about human beings… [Use] UNDOCUMENTED PERSON [not] ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT.”
Color of Change's protest-reporting guide pairs 'illegal immigrant' (avoid) against 'undocumented person' (use) in a people-first language table, alongside pairs like incarcerated person/inmate and person/suspect. Its principle is that criminal-justice and status labels obscure that the subject is a human being.
“PROBLEMATIC TERM: “Illegal immigrant.” This term ignores the complexities of immigration status and has been widely rejected by news organizations over the last several years. ALTERNATIVES: Undocumented immigrant, Immigrant without current status.”
IDP's case is empirical rather than moral: the term flattens a genuinely complicated legal status, and newsrooms have already abandoned it — so its avoidance is treated as settled professional practice, not an open argument. That sets it apart from the "no person is illegal" reasoning the other sources lead with.
“PROBLEMATIC TERM: “Illegal immigrant.” This term ignores the complexities of immigration status and has been widely rejected by news organizations over the last several years.”
The 2021 Comm/Unity revision keeps 'illegal immigrant' on its problematic-terms chart with the same reasoning as the 2020 guide and the same prescribed alternatives — undocumented immigrant or immigrant without current status.
“Terms and Phrases to Avoid: alien, an illegal, anchor baby, ex-pat, failed asylum seeker, illegal alien, illegal asylum seeker, illegal immigrant, legal alien, legal citizen, legal resident, legalized, migrant, resident alien.”
Sierra Club places 'illegal immigrant' (with 'an illegal' and 'illegal alien') on its 'Terms and Phrases to Avoid' list and instructs writers to never use 'illegal' to describe a person, offering 'undocumented immigrant' as the appropriate alternative.
“Avoid these terms when referring to immigration status. Use undocumented immigrant or undocumented worker instead… The term criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering or residing in the United States… Never use illegal(s) as a noun.”
Where most sources argue from principle, the Diversity Style Guide draws a bright grammatical line: 'illegal' may attach to an act but never to a person, so 'illegal(s)' as a noun is barred outright. The rule is enforceable at the sentence level, which makes it the easiest of the corpus's positions to copy-edit against.
“Problematic Terms: illegals, illegal immigrant, alien, illegal alien… The bottom line: The term “illegal” is dehumanizing and unfairly replaces complex legal circumstances with an assumption of guilt.”
Define American lists 'illegal immigrant' among its problematic terms because 'illegal' is dehumanizing and substitutes an assumption of guilt for a complex legal reality. It cites the AP Stylebook rule to use 'illegal' only for an action, not a person ('illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant'), and points writers to 'undocumented' or 'unauthorized.'
Synthesis
Every source in the corpus says avoid “illegal immigrant.” The agreement is unanimous, and two arguments recur across the guides. The first is logical and ethical: a person cannot be illegal. SumOfUs makes the point by analogy: calling someone an “illegal immigrant” makes as much sense as calling an accused accountant an “illegal accountant.” The Diversity Style Guide makes it structurally: the term “criminalizes the person rather than the actual act,” and lays down a hard rule, “never use illegal(s) as a noun.” The second argument is practical: the term flattens a complex legal reality and has been widely abandoned by newsrooms, as both the Immigrant Defense Project guides state. Sierra Club states the rejection more briefly, placing the term on an avoid list, and Color of Change frames it through people-first language.
The main prescribed alternative is “undocumented immigrant” (see that entry). The phrasing varies at the edges. Color of Change arrives there from its people-first frame, pairing “illegal immigrant” (avoid) against “undocumented person” (use) in the same table that pairs “inmate” against “incarcerated person.” Define American also offers “unauthorized immigrant” and “immigrant without legal status.”
The agreement hardened rather than formed. The turning point is the AP Stylebook’s 2013 decision to drop “illegal immigrant”, which the Immigrant Defense Project and Define American both reference; from SumOfUs (2016) onward, avoidance is treated as settled. By 2021, even USCIS had moved away from the broader “illegal” and “alien” vocabulary (see the alien entry), so the rejection now extends from movement guides through the federal government’s own usage.
Audience notes
- Journalists and editors. Never use “illegal” or “illegals” as a noun for a person; reserve “illegal” for an action, if at all. Use “undocumented immigrant.” This has tracked AP style since 2013.
- Advocates and internal comms. The term imports an assumption of guilt and is deployed deliberately as a framing choice. Take care not to repeat it even when rebutting it.
- If you arrived searching this term. Every progressive guide here rejects it; the term these sources most often point you to is “undocumented immigrant” (some also offer “undocumented person,” “unauthorized immigrant,” or “immigrant without legal status”).
Related terms