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entry in connection with the country’s immigration laws unless the "alien" has, among possibilities, "engaged in illegal activity after having departed" the United States.Īnother portion of the law says the U.S. "Illegal" appears in a section stating that an "alien" lawfully given permanent residency shall not be regarded as seeking U.S. Given McCraw's singling out of federal statutes, we launched our post-testimony look by searching the portion of federal law titled "Aliens and Nationality," and saw that the chapter titled "Immigration and Nationality" defines the word "alien" alone as "any person not a citizen or national of the United States."īut in the same "Definitions" section, we spotted "illegal" just once-and not in the context suggested by the DPS director’s testimony. We didn’t hear back.Ĭhecking for ‘illegal alien’ in federal law We later asked the DPS to elaborate on McCraw’s claim that "illegal aliens" appears in statute. And it it’s insulting, if it truly is insulting, I don’t intend to insult anybody." González replied that people "in my community" would find it "very concerning to use this language." McCraw answered that he’d consult DPS staff and "re-evaluate the use of words that their director has been using to describe, I’ve been consistent about that. McCraw answered: "I always use ‘illegal aliens’ and I have when I was assigned to the Department of Justice, when I worked at the FBI, when I was assigned as the director of the foreign terrorism task force because it’s a term, it’s a legal term, it’s in statute, it’s a federal term-and it’s not intended to degrade anybody in any way, shape or form." McCraw spent 21 years with the FBI before becoming director of Texas DPS, the state law-enforcement agency known for its state troopers and Texas Rangers. And so I’m guessing, my question is, is the agency standard in typically referring to undocumented immigrants as IAs?" "And so but then, in your testimony you used it again.
If we’re talking about children, for example, unaccompanied minors, then using words like ‘illegal aliens,’ I have had a concern about that, right?" she said. González then told McCraw she "had concerns about the language that you use and the agency is using in talking about undocumented immigrants. Mary González, D-San Elizario, elicited agreement from Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, that the words that "we choose to use" are powerful. Let’s unpack what touched off this fact-check, then turn to "illegal alien" in American law.Īt an April 18, 2018, Texas House hearing, state Rep. The term showed up 80 times in our May 2018 Google search of the PolitiFact website with "illegal aliens" popping up 5,620 times. We recognize, though, that "illegal alien" persists. AP spokesman Paul Colford said then that "illegal" should be used to describe actions, not people, and the AP counseled journalists against using "illegal alien" except in direct quotations. In 2013, the Associated Press dropped "illegal immigrant" from its stylebook. Many news organizations avoid the "IA" term. It doesn’t, we learned, though the term makes a few appearances. An exchange between a legislator and the leader of Texas’ state law enforcement agency made us wonder whether federal law uses "illegal alien" to describe any individual living in the U.S.