AP Riduculed For Erasing 'Illegal Immigrants' From Stylebook

The Associated Press is being attacked for reportedly attempting to sway the immigration debate, according to Fox News.

The AP style book will no longer include the words “illegal immigration,” according to Senior Vice President and Executive Director Kathleen Carroll.

“Our goal always is to use the most precise and accurate words so that the meaning is clear to any reader anywhere,” she said. “The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term ‘illegal immigrant’ or the use of ‘illegal’ to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that ‘illegal’ should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.”

Carroll said the decision was made after the news service spoke with individuals who disagreed with use of the term.

The change to the AP style could have national media effects. In addition to being used by almost all print and broadcast news outlets in America, most—if not all colleges—teach their journalism majors the AP style of writing.

This is not the first time the AP has made changes amidst a politically-correct debate. In February it said that people in same-sex marriages will not be called “husbands” and “wives” in the AP style.

While organizations like the Congressional Hispanic Caucus think this is a “great step forward”, other groups such as the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC poked fun at the measure.

They said they would begin using the term “illegal invaders… in response to the totalitarian steps by the Associated Press to make 'illegal immigrants' disappear with the stroke of a pen just days before legislation attempting to do the same is expected to be filed in Washington, DC, by the 'Gang of 8.'"

Thoughts about the change of style have even spread to the New York Times.

“The Times, for the past couple of months, has also been considering changes to its stylebook entry on this term and will probably announce them to staff members this week,” wrote public editor Margaret Sullivan.” “From what I can gather, The Times’s changes will not be nearly as sweeping as The AP’s. I would be surprised to see The Times ban the use of ‘illegal immigrant,’ as the AP has done.”