Borders and Populations

A nonimmigrant visa is granted to an individual who lawfully enters a host country for a temporary stay, such as tourism, business, temporary work, or study. Using “nonimmigrant” to describe a person’s visa status instead of their entire personhood is both more precise and more humanizing.

In the context of immigration, a “parolee” is a noncitizen granted a temporary stay in the United States for humanitarian or public interest purposes. On first mention, it’s helpful for clarity to specify the type of parole as “immigration parole.”

A refugee is an individual unwilling or unable to return to their country of nationality due to fear of persecution. As with any such descriptor, in order to avoid stigma it is considered best practice to avoid using terms like “refugee” to talk about people unless it is directly relevant to a story.

Language, Please is a living resource that will be regularly updated. We’re working hard on an entry for this topic — please check back in soon.

Someone is “stateless” if they are not considered to be a citizen of any state. If a story refers to people who are “stateless,” it can be helpful to give the reader a brief explanation of statelessness and how it applies to individuals.

Language, Please is a living resource that will be regularly updated. We’re working hard on an entry for this topic — please check back in soon.

Language, Please is a living resource that will be regularly updated. We’re working hard on an entry for this topic — please check back in soon.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a US immigration status granted to noncitizens who flee their countries of origin due to ongoing war, environmental disasters, or other conditions that are deemed “extraordinary” and “temporary.” Recipients are protected from deportation and may work and live in the US as long as they have this status. If using the term, including a brief explanation on first reference can be helpful for clarity.

“Unaccompanied migrant children” are migrant children who arrive at the US border without a parent or legal guardian. “Unaccompanied children” or “unaccompanied migrant children” are more neutral terms than “unaccompanied alien children,” which risks othering the children in question.

Undocumented immigrant, unauthorized immigrant, and non-status immigrant are preferred by many advocacy organizations to refer to someone who is not a US citizen or national (over a term such as illegal immigrant, which has racist connotations and can imply criminality). “Alien” is used in some legal documents, but this is usually considered othering or dehumanizing.