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As of last Tuesday, there is no such thing as an illegal human being in United States. At least, that is, according to the Associated Press.

On April 2, the organization, widely considered the oldest and largest newsgathering service in the world, made its own news: Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll announced on the companys blog that the AP will cease from referring to undocumented immigrants as illegal.

The companys esteemed Stylebook no longer sanctions the term illegal immigrant or the use of illegal to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that illegal should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.

From Kathleen Carrolls release:

Change is a part of AP Style because the English language is constantly evolving, enriched by new words, phrases and uses. Our goal always is to use the most precise and accurate words so that the meaning is clear to any reader anywhere.

The APs move to limit and clarify the use of illegal was a particularly welcome one for immigration activists.

Three years ago the website Colorlines launched a campaign to convince media entities to Drop the I-Word, meaning illegal, from coverage of immigration issues. Early efforts attempting to convince the AP to abandon illegal in favor of undocumented, however, were rebuffed.

[D]espite ardent support from some quarters [we didnt make the change] because it is not precise, wrote Carroll. A person may have plenty of documents, just not the ones required for legal residence

Link:
Why the Word ‘Illegal’ Is Out of AP Style