Senator Marco Rubio sees no distinction between the terms “undocumented” and “illegal” with respect to immigration, he told reporters Tuesday.
“Those are just interchangeable terms that people use all the time,” he said during a conference call with conservative journalists. “I’m not sure if there’s a politically correct one or not. In my mind they’re the same thing. An undocumented alien is an illegal alien.”
Some conservatives have complained that “undocumented” is a politically correct euphemism, and criticized the Associated Press for its decision to drop the term “illegal immigrant” from its coverage.
Rubio noted that there was a distinction between immigrations who entered the country illegally, and those who came legally but have overstayed their visas. But he shrugged of suggestions that there was an important distinction between calling them “illegal” or “undocumented.”
“Undocumented means you’re in violation of the law, illegal means you’re in violation of the law,” he said.