The SPJ Diversity Committee is pleased with The Associated Press’ decision to change the use of the term “illegal immigrant.”

However, the Diversity Committee has been behind the issue of dropping the term “illegal” for the past few years, spearheaded by former committee member Leo Laurence. And it was in New Orleans at the Excellence in Journalism Conference 2011 when I witnessed former Diversity Fellow and Vice Chairwoman Rebecca Aguilar address the SPJ board about her mother, who came to the United States from Mexico, and the pain it caused when she saw the term “illegal alien” used in the newspaper.

Rebecca Aguilar addresses SPJ Board about using term “illegal alien”.
Photo by Sandra Gonzalez

After hearing Aguilar’s impassioned speech, the voting convention delegates passed this resolution on voice vote:

WHEREAS, the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics urges all journalists to be “honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information” and;

WHEREAS, mainstream news reports are increasingly using the politically charged phrase “illegal immigrant” and the more offensive and bureaucratic “illegal alien” to describe undocumented immigrants, particularly Latinos and;

WHEREAS, a fundamental principle embedded in our U.S. Constitution is that everyone (including non-citizens) is considered innocent of any crime until proven guilty in a court of law and;

WHEREAS, this constitutional doctrine, often described as “innocent-until-proven-guilty,” applies not just to U.S. Citizens but to everyone in the United States and;

WHEREAS, only the court system, not reporters and editors, can decide when a person has committed an “illegal” act and;

WHEREAS, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is also concerned with the increasing use of pejorative and potentially inaccurate terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States;

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Society of Professional Journalists convention of delegates: urges journalists and style guide editors to stop the use of illegal alien and encourage continuous discussion and re-evaluation of the use of illegal immigrant in news stories.

Prior to this, it had been rejected by the Resolutions Committee.

The AP is now changing how it will describe people as journalists report stories involving the current immigration issue. According to Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, here is what is behind the decision:

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.

“Journalists and others can argue that the new style recommendation is less precise than ‘illegal alien’ or ‘illegal immigrant,’ but it’s important to note that a significant portion of country’s population regards those terms as offensive.  It wasn’t that long ago that keepers of journalism style, including The AP, fought dropping ‘Negro’ as a term for black or African-American people,” says SPJ President Sonny Albarado.

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists also says these terms can be dehumanizing  and demeaning.

“AP is right to note that the English language evolves and that our everyday usage contributes to that evolution. I hope journalists and others continue this conversation about immigration and people who come here legally or illegally until we arrive at terminology most of us can agree on,” Albarado says.

We on the SPJ Diversity Committee agree and hope journalists will eliminate these types of terms from their copy as immigration is a huge issue we will be reporting on this year.

Sandra Gonzalez
SPJ Diversity Committee Chairman
KSNV Reporter
Las Vegas

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and CCNMA – Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service

“Most Americans acknowledge that the immigration system is broken, even if they disagree about how to fix it,” writes columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. of the San Diego Union Tribune. He’s a respected leader in the Latino community.

“(President) Obama understands that, in order to have a successful administration, a president needs to do more than give speeches. He needs to put points on the board.

“If health care is, in fact, doomed now because of (Republican Scott) Brown’s victory (in Massachusetts), then Obama will need another cause to trumpet,” Navarrette says.

That could be immigration reform.

“This debate isn’t as simple as Blue and Red. There are Republicans who support comprehensive immigration reform and Democrats who oppose it,” the Latino columnist says.

As a presidential candidate, Obama promised Latino voters that he would deliver comprehensive immigration reform. Latinos are fast becoming a more powerful political force in the Unites States.

The answer is not in significantly increased border-patrol enforcement. A ranking sailor – James Boswell, STD2, USN – recently drove from Chicago to San Diego in a new car with Virginia plates. Traveling across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. He was stopped FOUR times by the border patrol. Each time he was told that he was stopped solely because he had out-of-state license plates. The border patrol only wanted him to prove his American citizenship. After producing his military ID, he was released.

It’s questionable whether solely having out-of-state plates on a new car provides the necessary probable cause before law enforcement can lawfully stop a car. Immigration enforcement is arguably out-of-hand, and seemingly far worse than it was under Republican presidents.

“If immigration reform doesn’t happen in 2010, the debate will only become more complicated,” columnist Navarrette believes. “If Republicans take control of Congress in November, the issue could be off the table for 2010. And, since little gets done in a presidential campaign, don’t expect much to happen (on immigration reform) in 2012.”

For those seriously interested in diversity issues, immigration reform provides a fertile field for journalists.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com