Why “Illegal Alien†is the Correct Term
By Matt O’Brien, Spencer Raley and Casey Ryan | July 2018 | View the PDF
Introduction
Any person who resides in the United States of America but is not a U.S. citizen, is classified as an “alien.†Aliens who do not enter the United States through proper channels, or who overstay their visas, are in the country illegally. Therefore, those aliens who are in the United States unlawfully are correctly known as “illegal aliens.â€
The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) federally codified the term “illegal alien†into federal law when President Ronald Reagan signed it in 1986. However, the term was already being used in legal conversation and the media for decades.
https://www.fairus.org/issue/illegal-immigration/why-illegal-alien-correct-term
