In his Los Angeles Times column today, Gustavo Arellano says that the Biden administration will require the Citizenship and Immigration Service to start using "inclusive" language in its communications. The term "illegal alien" will be banned in favor of "undocumented noncitizen" or "undocumented individual." Apparently, the government doesn't want to cast any aspersions on people who jump to the head of the line because they place their needs above those who obey the country's immigration laws.
One observation though. Arellano ought to be careful though using a term like "illegal alien," which he says is no better than calling someone a "greaser" or a "wetback." A couple of weeks ago the New York Times fired its long-time science writer, Donald McNeil, for using the n-word in a discussion two years ago with students of whether one of their fellow students should be suspended for having used the term in a video when she was 12. Two weeks ago the Times fired McNeil after 150 of NcNeil's colleagues expressed outrage that McNeil would use the term for any reason, academic or not.
The staff of the Los Angeles Times, I suspect, is no less politically correct than that of the New York Times. The use of the "i... a..." word may soon be as indefensible at this paper as the n-word is at the New York Times.
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