The Society of Professional Journalists, hearing an emotional plea from Rebecca Aguilar, a member of SPJ and of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, voted Tuesday to recommend that newsrooms discontinue using the terms “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant.” The resolution from the 7,800-member organization says only courts can decide when a person has committed an illegal act.
Admittedly, I'm no English major. And I'm no lawyer. Nor am I a "professional" journalist who has had the benefit of four years of training in that profession. But unless I'm grossly mistaken, only courts can decide when an individual person has committed an illegal act for purposes of punishment. But when speaking about an entire group of people who have violated the law by entering our country illegally (is the fact that millions--if not tens of millions--are here illegally really disputed?), it is perfectly legitimate to speak of them collectively as "illegal aliens." That does not speak to whether any single person is guilty of that crime.
But there is a lot of confusion about rights for individuals and rights for groups. We're founded on the former, but a lot of people want the latter.
