Skip to main content

DOJ is Now Officially Using The ‘I-Word,’ and Advocates are Outraged

 

There has been a shift in the language that the U.S. Department of Justice is using in its press releases and official announcements, and it’s not sitting well with some. The DOJ, under the leadership of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has begun using the term “illegal aliens” to refer to immigrants who do not have the proper paperwork to be in the United States. Last week, in announcing stricter rules for so-called sanctuary cities, a DOJ announcement said, “So-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes.”

The DOJ also sent this press release out last month:

06/29/2017 12:00 AM EDT
Today Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with families who have lost loved ones because of crimes committed by illegal aliens. In the meeting they discussed the progress being made by the Trump Administration to strengthen laws protecting Americans from crimes committed by illegal aliens and, the need to keep working to ensure that federal immigration laws are enforced.

Advocates for immigration reform contend that the term “illegal” is a “racial slur” and believe it is dehumanizing. Instead, they prefer if the term “undocumented immigrant” is used.

“They’re using a legally inaccurate term that’s deployed to unfairly label and scapegoat people who are out of status due to a variety of systemic circumstances,” Xakota Espinoza from the Center for Racial Justice Innovation, told LawNewz.com

Most major news outlets have not used “illegal immigrant” for several years now.  Only conservative media organizations like Breitbart and The Daily Caller still utilize the term. President Barack Obama, in his speeches, steered clear of the words, and so do some Republicans.

“The i-word is legally inaccurate, politically loaded, dehumanizing to the people it describes and likely unintentionally fuels racial profiling and violence directed toward immigrants,” Espinoza explained.

Advocates point to the 2012 Supreme Court ruling in which Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “As a general rule, it is not a crime for a movable alien to remain in the United States.”

In conservative circles, the term “illegal immigrant” is frequently used in the immigration battle. President Donald Trump has used the term repeatedly on Twitter during his term, and on the campaign trail. 

“I think this cuts to the heart of the debate over sanctuary cities and to what extent local law enforcement should cooperate with immigration authorities. Important legal nuances are reflected in words we use. A ‘detainee’ is not a ‘prisoner,’ for instance,” wrote Ted Slowik in a recent opinion piece for The Chicago Tribune. 

We reached out to the Department of Justice to find out more about why the decision was made.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Filed Under:

Follow Law&Crime:

Rachel Stockman is President of Law&Crime which includes Law&Crime Productions, Law&Crime Network and LawAndCrime.com. Under her watch, the company has grown from just a handful of people to a robust production company and network producing dozens of true crime shows a year in partnership with major networks. She also currently serves as Executive Producer of Court Cam, a hit show on A&E, and I Survived a Crime, a new crime show premiering on A&E this fall. She also oversees production of a new daily syndicated show Law&Crime Daily, which is produced in conjunction with Litton Entertainment. In addition to these shows, her network and production company produce programs for Facebook Watch, Cineflix and others. She has spent years covering courts and legal issues, and was named Atlanta Press Club's 'Rising Star' in 2014. Rachel graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and Yale Law School.