In Outlaw: My Life in America as an Undocumented Immigrant, by Jose Antonio Vargas, the two terms “undocumented immigrant” and “illegal alien” are used  in the article non-interchangeably. The two terms both refer to essentially the same type of person, however, the connotations of each term are pretty different. The term “undocumented immigrant” is quite literal. It suggests that the person being referred to was not born an American citizen, therefore they immigrated to the United States, yet it shows that said person does not possess proper paper work in order to be legally considered a citizen, hence “undocumented”. “Illegal alien” on the other hand, suggests someone as foreign as an alien to Earth has invaded this country and done something very wrong in order to be here. This term is much more negative and hurtful in comparison. People like Vargas who come to the US at a young age don’t know another home, this is their home. As Vargas states, “I grew up here. This is my home. Yet even though I think of myself as an American and consider America my country, my country doesn’t think of me as one of its own”. In Vargas’ case undocumented immigrant would be the better term to use because it is straightforward. The term suggests nothing more than someone who needs official documents to be considered a citizen by law. Additionally, the use of this term compared to “illegal alien” helps to normalize the situation that many people like Vargas find themselves in. Illegal alien suggests something much more heinous than the actual situation, and this rhetoric serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes surrounding undocumented immigrants, who much like Vargas are productive contributing citizens, not foreign monsters.

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