CNN reports that the Justice Department is dispensing with an obnoxious euphemism:
The Justice Department has instructed US attorneys offices not to use the term “undocumented” immigrants and instead refer to someone illegally in the US as “an illegal alien,” according to a copy of an agency-wide email obtained by CNN.
According to the email, the Justice Department uses terms in the US Code to describe an individual who is illegally in the US, and thus refers to them as “an illegal alien.”“The word ‘undocumented’ is not based in US code and should not be used to describe someone’s illegal presence in the country,” the email states.An immigrant who is in the US legally or whose status is unknown is to be described by their country of citizenship, it adds.
Apparently, this isn’t #fakenews, as the Washington Times has a story, too.
“A Justice Department spokesman did not dispute the authenticity of the email and pointed to the line about seeking consistency and remedying confusion,” the CNN story concludes.