Wall Street Journal Bans Reporters from Using the Term ‘Illegal Immigrant’

The Wall Street Journal, owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., is banning its reporters from using the term “illegal immigrant” and “illegal” to refer to illegal aliens living in the United States.

This week, in an update its style guide, the Journal states that while it will allow reporters to continue using the term “illegal immigration” to describe the process of illegal aliens arriving and staying in the U.S., it will no longer permit reporters to describe individuals as “illegal” or “illegal immigrant” in an effort to stop “labeling people.”

The Journal style guide revisions now state:

Illegal immigration describes the actions of people who cross borders illegally or remain in a country after their legal right to stay has expired. Use illegal to refer only to an act, not to a person or people: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant(s). When describing a broad category of immigrants, use alternatives such as immigrants who entered the country illegally … people living in the U.S. unlawfully or without the legal right…. When needed, the phrase lacking permanent legal status is accurate shorthand covering both those in the country illegally and those with a protected status that shields them from deportation. [Emphasis added]

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The Journal is only the latest establishment media publication to ban the use of accurate terms that describe illegal aliens living in the U.S. In 2013, as Breitbart News reported at the time, the Associated Press (AP) banned its reporters from using the term “illegal immigrant” and “illegal” to describe illegal aliens.

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