'Someone who crosses our borders illegally is here illegally,' McCain said. McCain: I'll keep using the 'I word'

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) says he won’t stop using the term “illegal immigrant.”

During a town hall meeting in Phoenix, a speaker asked McCain to please “drop the ‘I word’.”


“Someone who crosses our borders illegally is here illegally,” McCain answered, according to The Arizona Republic. “You can call it whatever you want to, but it’s illegal. I think there’s a big difference between someone who does something that’s illegal and someone who’s undocumented. I’ll continue to call it illegal.”

Latino groups and the American Civil Liberties Union have advocated for the use of “undocumented” worker as opposed to “illegal immigrant,” arguing that being in violation of immigration laws is not a crime unless the immigrant was deported and then returns to the U.S. without permission, as The Wisconsin State Journal noted in 2010. Many undocumented immigrants enter the U.S. legally but overstay their visas, which is a civil violation, not a crime, the ACLU said.