Illegal immigrant? Illegal alien? Undocumented worker? Unauthorized immigrant?

Those are some of the different labels and euphemisms that media organizations have come up with to describe the 12 million or so foreign nationals who are living in this country without immigration authorization. All the labels are unsatisfactory in some respect, and they cause fits for news organizations trying to report on one of the biggest issues of our time -- what to do with the people who don't have authority to live here. (Quick question: Percentagewise, what nationality is the fastest-growing "illegal" population in this country? Answer at end of column.)

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THE LABELING ISSUE IS NOT NEW, but it flares up regularly as immigration issues move to the front page. That's happened recently with the spate of stories about whether students without documentation should be admitted to North Carolina's community colleges and universities. Here are two recent headlines that brought reader protests:

"Easley supports college for aliens," -- Friday, May 9.

"U.S.: Colleges may admit illegals," -- Saturday, May 10.

Of the first story, reader Richard Kevin wrote: "These children are no more illegal than are the children of speeders and drunken drivers who are in the car when their parents are arrested. Whether or not they are admitted to the UNC system of higher education, these students are undocumented, not illegal. Your use of the latter term subtly supports a false perception."

Zulayka Santiago of Durham wrote of illegals: "This choice of terminology not only dehumanizes individuals, but also automatically creates a bias to the reader."

So if the terminology is offensive, what words do we use? The News & Observer, like most media organizations, has a manual of style that guides word usage. In this case, it says:

"Instead of illegal aliens, we use illegal immigrants or immigrants who are in the country illegally. Illegal aliens is permissible in a tight count in headlines."

Now, check with El Pueblo, the Raleigh-based advocacy group for Latinos. "The problem we have is not alien, it's illegal," said director Tony Asion. "They are not illegal, they are undocumented."

So, undocumented immigrant works for him.

The official terminology in federal immigration law is alien. But that leads to headlines such as last week's, which made it sound as if North Carolina's governor wanted to start a campus for people from outer space. Raleigh immigration attorney Jack Pinnix doesn't like alien either, especially when coupled with illegal.

"What bugs me about illegal is when it's applied in the context of these college students," he said. "You can't be charged with felonies and misdemeanors below a certain age. Here's a 17-year-old who's been here since age 2, 3 or 4 with no intention to break the law. You can't call them illegal." Pinnix favors undocumented foreign national.

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I WONDERED HOW NEWSPAPERS IN BORDER TOWNS with large Latino populations handled the semantics issue. The San Diego Union Tribune allows either undocumented or illegal, the latter only when it can be verified that the person is living illegally in the United States. The San Antonio Express-News uses unauthorized immigrant. Bob Richter, public editor there, said many folks in that community on the Mexican border "have a far less harsh view of illegal or unauthorized immigrants. The thinking is that these people are dirt poor and will continue to come north to feed their families."

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