By Adolfo Flores

During my internship at The Dispatch in Lexington, N.C., I worked on a piece about a student whose residency in the United States was undocumented.

North Carolina doesn’t allow students who are children of undocumented workers to enroll in institutions of higher education in the state so the young woman I wrote about was stuck in her own limbo.

To balance my story, I called a national organization that supports legal immigration. This was not the first time I’ve covered immigration. I’m used to angry comments from anti-immigrant proponents.

I asked the source some pointed questions, including whether he thought some of the children of undocumented workers could possibly contribute to the United States one day if given the chance to pursue a college education.

The interview turned hostile and the source yelled, swore and asked me questions about my citizenship. I hung up the phone while he was swearing.

I made some other calls, hoping to speak to local or state groups that were opposed to helping undocumented students. But I didn’t manage to talk with these groups before my deadline.

That left only my angry source. He had some decent quotes but I didn’t want to use them because of the way he had treated me.

At the same time I didn’t want to submit a one-sided piece on an issue that has more than two sides.

After talking with a few other reporters, I decided I couldn’t let my emotions be a factor in my decision. It wouldn’t be fair.

I quoted the source. But I also wrote that after I asked him that question he “went into a profane rant” — maybe not the best choice of words, but true.

My next hurdle came when I saw the edited version of my story.

Where I had written “undocumented immigrant,” the story now had “illegal immigrant.” The editor asked if I was OK with the changes since the AP Stylebook says illegal immigrant is the preferred term.

I never use illegal immigrant or illegal alien unless the words are in a quote. The terms make the person, not the act, illegal. They dehumanize people because of their negative connotation.

I use undocumented immigrant because it implies that the person lacks the documentation that would legally permit him or her to live or work in the United States. It does not imply that the person is an illegal person.

I asked my editor if my story could remain the way I had written it. The good thing about a small newsroom is how easy it is to speak with all the editors, which is what we did.

I told them I felt strongly about the matter and explained my reasons. They let my original terms stand.

It wasn’t that my editors wanted to dehumanize anyone. I just think they had never questioned the impact the words have on the people to whom they refer.

At California State University—Northridge, I’m enrolled in the only Spanish-language media program in the nation.

I grew up knowing about immigration issues but never thought twice about using the term illegal immigrant.

But after my professor corrected me in front of my class and explained why it was preferable to use undocumented immigrant, I never again used illegal or alien to describe immigrants.

Writing the newspaper piece turned out to have been more interesting than I expected. With the help of my editors and the training I received at school, I learned not to let my emotions cloud my judgment and that taking the time to explain can go a long way.

Adolfo Flores is a journalism student at California State University-Northridge. He was a Summer 2009 Chips Quinn Scholar at The Dispatch in Lexington, N.C. Flores has been a reporter, online editor and editor of El Nuevo Sol, the campus Spanish-language paper, as well as a reporter and city editor for the Daily Sundial, the English-language student newspaper. Flores was an intern covering the Latino community at Mi Estrella, the former Spanish-language weekly of the Ventura County Star. He spent the fall of 2007 covering politics in Washington, D.C., for Hispanic Link Weekly Report. During summer 2008, he reported for the Los Angeles Daily News. Flores is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity and president of the student chapter of CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California.