Is 'illegal alien' a term in federal law?

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. without legal authorization.

It doesn’t, we learned, though the term makes a few appearances.

Many news organizations avoid the "IA" term. In 2013, the Associated Press dropped "illegal immigrant" from its stylebook. 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.

We recognize, though, that "illegal alien" persists. The term showed up 80 times in our May 2018 Google search of the PolitiFact website with "illegal aliens" popping up 5,620 times.

Let’s unpack what touched off this fact-check, then turn to "illegal alien" in American law.

West Texas legislator questions director

At an April 18, 2018, Texas House hearing, state Rep. 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.

González then told McCraw she "had concerns about the language that you use and the agency is using in talking about undocumented immigrants. 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. "And so but then, in your testimony you used it again. And so I’m guessing, my question is, is the agency standard in typically referring to undocumented immigrants as IAs?"

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.

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. And it it’s insulting, if it truly is insulting, I don’t intend to insult anybody."

We later asked the DPS to elaborate on McCraw’s claim that "illegal aliens" appears in statute. We didn’t hear back.

Checking for ‘illegal alien’ in federal law

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."

But in the same "Definitions" section, we spotted "illegal" just once--and not in the context suggested by the DPS director’s testimony. "Illegal" appears in a section stating that an "alien" lawfully given permanent residency shall not be regarded as seeking U.S. 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.

Another portion of the law says the U.S. attorney general "shall have the power and duty to control and guard the boundaries and borders of the United States against the illegal entry of aliens." Our scrolling of the act also picked up a mention of "illegal entrants".

Federal agency offers examples

We separately heard back from Arwen FitzGerald of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. By email, FitzGerald pointed to four uses of "illegal alien," two in federal law and the others in a congressional act.

Section 1252(c) of the "Aliens and Nationality" laws is titled: "Authorizing State and local law enforcement officials to arrest and detain certain illegal aliens." The section authorizes state and local law enforcement officials "to arrest and detain an individual who— (1) is an alien illegally present in the United States; and (2) has previously been convicted of a felony in the United States and deported or left the United States after such conviction."