It came after months of secretive talks among the four Republican and four Democratic House members had seemed to stall in recent days even as an immigration bill in the Senate moved forward. The House members met for two hours Thursday evening, emerging to announce they had a deal.

“We have an agreement in principle. We’re now going to work on finishing up the drafting of the bill,” said Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, a leader of the group.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., another member, said over Twitter: “Important breakthrough, some details still to be worked out, but very pleased things are moving forward.”

Carter and others declined to give details, saying they’d agreed among themselves not to do so.

Group members had been saying for months that they were near a deal, but in recent days talks appeared close to breaking down over a few unresolved details. These included a new visa program for lower-skilled workers, and how to handle health care coverage for immigrants in the country illegally who would gain legal status under the bill. Lawmakers and aides suggested earlier Thursday that one option would be for the group to release a bipartisan bill that simply left those issues out, allowing Republicans and Democrats in the group to offer their own plans on those aspects of the legislation.

Meanwhile, members of the group were under pressure to deliver from other lawmakers and outside advocates who feared they would lose their window to have a voice in the debate if they didn’t produce something soon. A bill released last month by leading senators is moving toward a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee and has become the focus of the immigration debate.

“I am concerned that the bipartisan group has been unable to wrap up their work,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters earlier Thursday, before the group announced its deal. “And I know that there are some very difficult issues that have come up. But I continue to believe that the House needs to deal with this and the House needs to work its will. How we get there, we’re still dealing with it.”

The House group had struggled to come up with a plan that could have a possibility of passing the Republican-controlled House while also satisfying Democrats in the group. They have discussed a path to citizenship that would take 15 years for the estimated 11 million people living here illegally, two years longer than contemplated by the Senate bill, which is backed by Obama.

Overall, the legislation would share the same goals as the Senate plan: boosting border security, an increased focus on workplace enforcement, new means to allow workers to enter this country legally and the eventual prospect of citizenship for millions.

As the House group bogged down, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., separately has moved forward with individual, narrowly focused bills on immigration, including one on workplace enforcement that was discussed at a hearing Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held its third work session Thursday to plow through some 300 amendments to the Senate immigration legislation. The committee voted down an amendment by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that would have required the implementation of an electronic employer ID verification system in 18 months, instead of the four years contemplated by the bill.

Republican Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – two of the bill’s Republican authors – voted with Democrats against the amendment, which was defeated 13-5. So did Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a potential swing vote on the bill.

Thursday’s committee action was low-key, but behind the scenes efforts were under way to reach a deal on a series of amendments by Hatch that would benefit the high-tech community by making it easier for companies to access and use H-1B visas, which go to highly skilled workers. The bill increases the supply of these visas but also adds in protections aimed at ensuring U.S. workers get the first shot at jobs, and tech companies have objected to some of those provisions, which have been championed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a principle author of the bill, was working with Hatch to try to find a compromise but the issue was unlikely to be resolved before next week.

In addition to Carter, Republicans in the House group are Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Sam Johnson of Texas and Raul Labrador of Idaho. On the Democratic side, in addition to Gutierrez, they are Zoe Lofgren and Xavier Becerra of California and John Yarmuth of Kentucky.

A new stylebook entry sent via e-mail to NBC Latino states that reporters can still use the term “illegal immigrant,” but to “be aware that in the debate over immigration, some people view it as loaded or offensive. The stylebook urges its writers to consider alternatives when appropriate to explain a person’s specific circumstances, such as “who crossed the border illegally,” or “who is not authorized to work in this country,” according to the entry.

The new stylebook also states, “Do not use illegal as a noun, and avoid the sinister-sounding alien.”  The term unauthorized is an acceptable description, according to the newspaper, and undocumented is described as “the term preferred by immigrants and their advocates, but has the flavor of euphemism and should be used with caution outside quotations.”

The e-mail from the New York Times came shortly after a group representing several organizations went to the Times headquarters in New York City’s midtown with a delivery — over 70,000 signatures, according to the group, petitioning the newspaper to stop using the term “illegal immigrant.”

“A term like this is degrading, and it does not need to be used, since it does not adequately characterize individuals,” says Fernando Chavez, one of the group’s members and son of famed civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.

“I think this term has become a slur,” says Gabriela Garcia, of the group Presente.org, an organization advocating for immigrant rights and a more active political voice for Hispanics. “It’s really the defining term used by anti-immigrant groups to categorize people as inherently being illegal, and it leads to dehumanizing people,” Garcia adds.

RELATED: AP drops ‘illegal immigrant, means a person will no longer be described as illegal

Alex Nogales, of the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), says that originally, “this was not a fight we wanted to get into.” What changed his group’s mind, explains Nogales, was a Latino Decisions September 2012 poll which found that the term “illegal immigrant” had a measurable negative effect of non-Latinos’ views of Latinos.  Fifty-nine percent of non-Latinos polled offered a “cold” rating toward the term “illegal alien,” compared to 49 percent for “undocumented.”

Moreover, almost one out of three non-Latinos polled thought that the majority of Hispanics were undocumented.

“Crimes against Latinos have gone up, and that’s largely because of hate speech,” says Nogales. “But it’s also loaded words like this (illegal immigrant) which carry a meaning above and beyond what another word would carry,” he added.

Immigrants rights, as well as Latino groups, have been meeting with organizations on the issue. Recently, the Associated Press announced they would no longer use the term. USA Today did the same.

In the e-mail statement, the New York Times’ Corbett said, “we’re well aware of the debate over these terms, and we understand the sensitivity of this issue for many people.  Our goal, on this and every topic, is to be as accurate, clear and impartial as possible in our reporting, including in the language we use.”

Jose Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer-prize-winning  journalist and writer — who happens to be undocumented — was with the group who went to the New York Times, and tweeted a lukewarm response to the newspaper’s decision.

BREAKING: @nytimes *not* banning “illegal immigrants” but urging reporters “to consider alternatives.” #notreallysurewhatthismeans

— Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) April 23, 2013

This month, the last of his trilogy series, “La Ruta,” premiered in the Bronx, NY. The immigration-themed play, which takes place inside a 48-foot trailer truck, will travel through Brooklyn, Manhattan and end in Staten Island on May 12. It aims to show the reality of what an undocumented immigrant goes through by allowing the audience to live through the experience — a 24-hour day condensed into 70 minutes inside of a hot, crowded truck.

“I wanted to make it an immersive experience,” says the 39-year-old playwright. “I wanted to toss the audience in that world of dealing with the coyotes and being inside the tractor-trailer — for many, that’s their ride.”

He says what sparked him to write about immigration was the whole debate that started back in 2006.

“It started to make the front pages of the papers, marches began through various cities — that’s initially when I was inspired to venture into this world,” says Cardona. “My plan was to write three plays about the undocumented immigration experience.”

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From left to right: Annie Henk as Mabel, Zoë Sophia Garcia as Irma, Gerardo Rodriguez as Francisco, Bobby Plasencia as Juancho (lying on the ground) (Photo/Lia Chang)

Zoë Sophia Garcia as Irma and Gerardo Rodriguez as Francisco (Photo/Lia Chang)

(Photo/Lia Chang)

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The first, “Pick Up Pots,” which won the John Golden Award, is about a bunch of kitchen workers in Connecticut, where Cardona was born and raised. “American Jornalero” is about day laborers in Queens, NY and was produced last year and selected as a finalist by the 2011 Metlife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition. Then, the Working Theater was commissioned for “La Ruta.”

“The previous two plays were about the undocumented already here working, and the sacrifices they go through while they’re here,” says Cardona.

With ‘La Ruta,’ he says he wanted to explain the journey immigrants went through to get into the U.S.

“I just feel that personally, as a Latino, even though I’m Puerto Rican, I just feel a connection to the topic of my fellow Latinos and a sense of responsibility to give these folks a face and a voice in the American theater scene — to get these stories heard,” says Cardona. “I remember hearing stories as a kid of racism and bigotry towards my father when I was little, and he was legal. ‘Pick Up Pots’ is loosely based on stories my father shared with me…I feel they need to be heard.”

He says he hopes by telling these stories, people will begin seeing immigrants as fellow human beings.

“I hope people see these people as just a human being searching for a better opportunity, nothing more,” says Cardona. “Sometimes they’re forced to risk their lives, and I think we need to start honoring that instead of demonizing it. I don’t want to sway opinions, but just humanize it — even if it’s people just having a conversation about the show afterwards.”

The other way Cardona tried to make his play as realistic as possible was that he cast a nearly all-Latino cast — of all shades and backgrounds.

“I wanted them to be Latino and to get a sense of the different faces — of what a Latino is,” says the playwright. “There are so many stereotypes out there of what the undocumented immigrant looks like.”

But he says he thinks as a country, we’re headed in the right direction.

In addition to having another play brewing about Dreamers, he’s also working on a play about a female Iraqi War veteran suffering from PTSD. He says he’d love for “La Ruta” to travel nationally, though.

“Even if it’s just a campus tour, I would love to take this out of New York City and to other communities,” says Cardona.

But the decision, according to legal observers, did not appear to be an actual rejection of the request made by Jose Godinez-Samperio, 26.

Rather, the court indicated it would be deciding on the larger question it had been asked – whether or not to allow people unlawfully in the country to become lawyers — and not on a specific individual case.

To read the rest of the story go to nbcnews.com

“The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person,” said senior vice president and executive editor Kathleen Carroll. “Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.”

The term has long been an issue of contention by activists like former journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who is undocumented and joined others in railing against the Associated Press and others who continued to use what they felt was outdated terminology.

No human being is “illegal.” Thank u, @ap, for doing the right thing–for the sake of accuracy and humanity: abcn.ws/ZyjNTh

— Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) April 2, 2013

You’re next, @nytimes, @latimes, @washingtonpost, @wsj. No human being is illegal. cc @ap @defineamerican

— Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) April 2, 2013

Tony Hernandez, the founder of Immigrant Archive Project (IAP), which documents the stories of immigrants, says he welcomes the change.

“Words are mere vessels for meaning, and this particular term, in my opinion has been used to victimize by suggesting ‘criminality,’” he said. “The fact remains that immigration violations are considered civil offenses — no different from a parking violation, yet we would never consider the term “illegal drivers.”

He said  it’s time the country moves away from “illegal immigrant” the way it did from words describing mental disabilities and sexual preference.

In September, Vargas spoke in front of a gathering of journalists at the Online News Association conference in San Francisco where he equated using the word “illegal” to describe an immigrant to days long since past when women were identified by their marriage status and when gay individuals mentioned in stories were described by their sexual preference.

Many took to Twitter to cheer the decision by the Associated Press, echoing the common refrain from advocates that “no human being is illegal.” The National Council of La Raza tweeted, “Well done!” in sharing the news.

Associated Press FINALLY drops the I-word!!! blog.ap.org/2013/04/02/ill…

— RubenCastillaHerrera (@LatinoLdrSHIFT) April 2, 2013

loving a straight-up win for @racialjustice as @ap drops “illegal immigrant” from usage: bit.ly/10wjxFg #DTIW

— Tiffany Bradley (@tiffanymarket) April 2, 2013

So awesome to see! RT @nclr: .@ap drops “illegal” and “illegal immigrant” from its Stylebook. Well done! ow.ly/jG5ey

— David Castillo (@dciii) April 2, 2013

The  Associated Press did not say it supports using the word undocumented, however.

“The discussions on this topic have been wide-ranging and include many people from many walks of life,” Carroll said. “Earlier, they led us to reject descriptions such as “undocumented,” despite ardent support from some quarters, because it is not precise. A person may have plenty of documents, just not the ones required for legal residence.”

As Vargas tweeted, many will turn their attention to organizations like the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal that still use “illegal immigrant.” Activists also want politicians from both parties, like Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, both on the bipartisan “Gang of 8″ senators working on immigration reform, to drop the phrase.

NBC Latino uses NBC News guidelines and “undocumented immigrant” to describe individuals who are not in the country legally.

The IAP’s Hernandez says John Franklin Stephens, a man from Virginia with Down syndrome who serves as a “global messenger” for the Special Olympics, has written extensively about words that hurt him, like “retard” and the parallels with undocumented immigrants are easy to spot.

“So, what’s wrong with ‘retard’?” he wrote.

“I can only tell you what it means to me and people like me when we hear it. It means that the rest of you are excluding us from your group. We are something that is not like you and something that none of you would ever want to be. We are something outside the ‘in’ group. We are someone that is not your kind.”

“I am honored because of my history, but also for being recognized for my leadership and the issues I’ve been working on,” says one of the guests, Mayor of Avondale, Arizona, Marie Lopez Rogers. “I’ve been trying hard to make a contribution in cities across the nation. The economy, jobs, and immigration are huge for us in Arizona. We are all border cities, because the economy translates across the nation.”

Lopez Rogers, a former migrant farm worker from Avondale, Arizona, has been the city’s first Latina mayor since her inauguration in 2006. She currently serves as Chair of the Maricopa Association of Governments, and in December 2012, she was named president of the National League of Cities, an organization dedicated to helping city leaders build better communities.

“We’ve been working together, and we hope that we can create communities that help our economy and environment,” says Lopez Rogers about her work with President Obama.

She says she knows the economy will be a critical topic for the president this evening, as jobs are critical to cities, but she also knows immigration is a high priority for him as well.

“It’s a great honor to be invited to the State of the Union, especially because I am in the First Lady’s box,” says undocumented student Alan Aleman from Las Vegas, Nevada. “It is my duty to represent my community, especially the immigrant community.”

RELATED: State of the Union’s special guests: undocumented immigrants

Aleman was born in Mexico City, Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. at age 11. Last year, when Alan heard about Obama’s Deferred Action for undocumented youth, he was one of the first to sign up and was among the first people in Nevada to get approved. Today, Alan is in his second year at the College of Southern Nevada, and thanks to Deferred Action, he’s able to have a driver’s license and a work permit to help him pay for school.

“If you don’t have money, how are you going to pay for your college tuition?” asks Aleman. “The first semester my parents paid for my tuition…Now I work at Hermandad Mexicana as a caseworker.”

Alan Aleman (far left) with family members and Congressman Steven Horsford on February 12, 2013. (Photo/Tim Hogan)

He says he hopes to hear the president push for immigration reform tonight, and hopefully a path to citizenship.

“I’d love to be able to vote,” says Aleman sounding excitedly hopeful. “I want to be able to be a doctor and hopefully to join the Air Force…Most of the Dreamers feel like Americans…We like to contribute to this country.”

Wounded warrior Sergeant Carlos Evans was born in Puerto Rico and also lives to serve his country. While on his fourth overseas deployment in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps., he lost both of his legs and his left hand in 2010. In 2012, he received a custom home from Operation Coming Home and now resides in North Carolina with his wife and two young daughters.

“I feel very honored and very happy,” says the 33-year-old about receiving the call inviting him to the State of the Union.

He says he hopes the president will remember the armed forces and his fellow veterans tonight.

“When wounded veterans come back home, their fight continues,” says Evans who is currently working with Operation Coming Home — the organization which helped him when he returned from war. “They come back with injuries, and to help them and their families would be awesome.”

Strategists say that if Republicans are to win presidential elections, which they’ve been losing lately, partly because of dismal support from Hispanic voters, they must soften their rhetoric about undocumented immigrants and embrace some version of “immigration reform.”

But granting undocumented residents a path to citizenship, which critics call “amnesty,” is deeply unpopular in many House Republicans’ districts.

RELATED: Reality check on immigration reform’s obstacles

President Barack Obama wants such a pathway. So do some prominent GOP lawmakers who are seeking a way out of their party’s jam.

The plans differ on when and how citizenship might occur, with border security a central issue. Resolving these differences may determine whether a major law is enacted in the coming months.

Some GOP strategists fear they will lose either way.

If by the next election Latino voters think Republicans opposed and possibly blocked a comprehensive immigration overhaul, they might turn against the party in even bigger numbers.

On the other hand, converting millions of undocumented Hispanic residents into citizens might produce large numbers of new voters who will lean Democratic for years.

“This is a perilous debate that Republicans have entered into,” said John Ullyot, a Republican consultant and a former Senate aide.

Obama won 71 percent of the Hispanic vote last November and 67 percent in 2008. GOP campaign professionals say Republicans are dooming themselves if they don’t show a more welcoming face to this fast-growing segment of voters.

“Republicans need to solve this issue, politically, if they wish to win national elections, and they know it,” said Texas-based GOP consultant Matt Mackowiak.

Winning House elections, however, is a different matter.

A number of Republican lawmakers and aides say “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants triggers strong resentment among their constituents. The upcoming debates could stir passions further, even in swing districts.

Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, lost his Cincinnati-area seat to a Democrat in 2008, then regained it two years later. He opposes giving undocumented immigrants an eventual route to citizenship.

“It is unfair to allow those who have willfully and intentionally broken our nation’s immigration laws to, in essence, cut in front of those who have been patiently and legally waiting their turn to become U.S. citizens,” Chabot wrote on his House blog. Republicans should appeal to Hispanic voters “on principle,” he said, not by agreeing to liberal immigration policies. “Republicans are better for Hispanics because our policies are better for them,” Chabot said.

Republican leaders hope to minimize internal conflicts by finding a compromise that Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate will accept.

A bipartisan group of senators has proposed a plan that would allow undocumented immigrants to pursue citizenship only after steps, yet to be detailed, are taken to further secure the border with Mexico. The plan is backed by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., whose parents were born in Cuba. He is seen as leading player on immigration.

Some other high-profile conservatives, including Fox News’ Sean Hannity and the 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, have spoken favorably about Rubio’s approach.

Democrats insist that the border security prerequisites not be onerous. They worry that Republicans will never agree that border enforcement is strong enough to start the citizenship process for undocumented immigrants. Similarly, some Republicans say they fear Democrats won’t deliver tougher security once undocumented immigrants are allowed the first step toward legal status.

Republican strategists say respectful rhetoric in the coming debates is crucial to wooing Hispanic voters who feel previous GOP comments revealed anti-immigrant feelings.

“If the tone of the debate is thoughtful,” then Republicans can survive politically even if they reject “blanket amnesty,” campaign adviser Terry Nelson said.

Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, who heads the GOP’s 2014 House campaign efforts, said the party must communicate better with minorities.

“Obviously we’ve got to address this,” he said of immigration changes. “We’ve got 50,000 young Hispanics reaching voter age every month.”

Some conservative pundits, however, say turning undocumented immigrants into voting citizens will hurt the GOP, not help it.

Latinos “are disproportionately low-income and disproportionately likely to receive some form of government support,” the magazine National Review said in an editorial. “Take away the Spanish surname and Latino voters look a great deal like many other Democratic constituencies.”

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, says he’s ready to tackle big changes in immigration laws. But the effort may conflict with another of his goals: passing major legislation only if most House Republicans support it.

House insiders say many, and perhaps most, Republican lawmakers will want to vote against a citizenship-granting immigration bill, even if they quietly hope it passes and helps their party at the presidential level.

Such “vote no, hope yes” groups are well-suited for passing difficult measures with a modest number of Republican votes and many Democratic votes. It happened twice in January: on a hurricane aid bill and a vote on the “fiscal cliff.”

At a recent House Republican retreat in Virginia, Boehner brought in independent political analyst Charlie Cook to explain to lawmakers why they face serious trouble with Hispanic voters.

Cook said House Republicans make a mistake if they view national issues such as immigration “through the prism of your district,” said a participant at the private session. Republicans eventually can improve their standing with Latinos if they stop talking and acting as though they don’t like immigrants, Cook told the House members.

“Holes tend to fill in over time if people stop digging,” Cook was quoted as saying to the lawmakers.

The Homeland Security Department said last month, when The Associated Press first disclosed the delayed arrest of Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, that AP’s report was “categorically false.”

Sanchez, 18, was an immigrant from Peru who has overstayed a visitor visa that allowed him to enter the United States. He eventually was arrested at his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6. He has since been released from an immigration jail and is facing deportation. Sanchez has declined to speak to the AP.

RELATED: Sen. Menendez responds to reports his intern was arrested

After the AP story, which cited an unnamed U.S. official involved in the case, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and six other Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the Obama administration for details about the incident.

According to those documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Newark had arranged to arrest Sanchez at the local prosecutor’s office on Oct. 25. That was fewer than two weeks before the election.

Noting that Sanchez was a volunteer in Menendez’s Senate office, ICE officials in New Jersey advised that the arrest “had the possibility of garnering significant congressional and media interest” and were “advised to postpone the arrest” until officials in Washington gave approval. The documents describe a conference call between officials Washington and New Jersey to “determine a way forward, given the potential sensitivities surrounding the case.”

The senators, in a letter to the Homeland Security Department, said the agency documents showed that Sanchez’s arrest “was delayed by six weeks,” as AP had reported. They asked for details about the department’s review of potentially sensitive, high profile immigration cases when arrests are delayed.

In a letter Monday, Assistant DHS Secretary Nelson Peacock said an allegation that the government delayed Sanchez’s arrest “for political purposes” was categorically false. Neither the unnamed U.S. official cited in AP’s original story or the senators in their letters to the department had specifically alleged that the arrest had been delayed for political purposes. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss details of Sanchez’s immigration case, told AP last month that the department had instructed federal agents not to arrest Sanchez until after Election Day.

The documents provided to Congress do not indicate why the arrest should have been delayed or whether anyone outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement — such as in the headquarters offices of the Homeland Security Department — was consulted.

RELATED: Lawmaker probes arrest of sex offender Senator Menendez intern

Menendez, D-N.J., who advocates aggressively for pro-immigration policies, was re-elected on Nov. 6 with 58 percent of the vote. Menendez said last month that his staff was notified about the case immediately before AP’s story, he learned about the case from the AP and he knew nothing about whether or why DHS had delayed the arrest.

According to police records, Sanchez was 15 when he was arrested on a charge of aggravated sexual assault in 2009. The records show he was accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy at least eight times and sentenced to two years’ probation and required to register as a sex offender. The AP is not reporting the boy’s relationship to Sanchez to avoid identifying the victim.

The agency documents show that Sanchez failed to update his sex offender registration, and local prosecutors considered arresting him for that. During the same time, immigration officials learned that Sanchez had applied for the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which would have allowed him to stay in the country and legally work for two years. He did not disclose his arrest or status as a sex offender on the application and was eventually denied, according to the documents.

Immigration enforcement operations in New Jersey were largely halted starting Oct. 28 as officials prepared for Hurricane Sandy. By Nov. 29, ICE had planned to arrest Sanchez after Citizenship and Immigration Services had formally denied his deferred action application. The following day, the ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor was consulted. The agency’s chief counsel was also consulted and the arrest was approved Dec. 5.

Sanchez was arrested the next day.

During the final weeks of President George W. Bush’s administration, ICE was criticized for delaying the arrest of President Barack Obama’s aunt, who had ignored an immigration judge’s order to leave the country several years earlier after her asylum claim was denied. She subsequently won the right to stay in the United States after an earlier deportation order, and there was no evidence of involvement by the White House.

In that case, the Homeland Security Department had imposed an unusual directive days before the 2008 election requiring high-level approval before federal agents nationwide could arrest fugitive immigrants including Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama’s late father. The directive from ICE expressed concerns about “negative media or congressional interest,” according to a copy of that directive obtained by AP. The department lifted the immigration order weeks later.

“Of course it’s offensive, it’s meant to be,”  says Lisa Navarette, advisor to the president at the National Council of La Raza. “This is simply a failing business trolling for attention. We would recommend people not patronize this place. Sure, because of this insult but really due to the fact that a restaurant this clueless about the Latino community can’t possibly make a decent taco.”

Navarette’s reference to Taco Cid as a failed business, likely comes because it is the only remaining Taco Cid in South Carolina. The rest have been closed. It is also a one-star restaurant on Yelp.com, but most of the reviews have come after this controversy unfolded.

Efren Serrano, a pastor at Iglesia Nueva Esperanza in West Columbia, which is five minutes away from Taco Cid, said the shirts are inappropriate.

“It just looks bad because this talks about all the Latinos,” he said. “It’s not just Mexicans, it’s the Hondurans and Guatemalans.”

Serrano said the majority of people who go to the restaurant are not Hispanic but some are. “This is wrong and the Latino community doesn’t feel good about this.”

RELATED: Hockey team’s controversial Latino promotion moves forward minus Dora and plus Latino veterans

Taco Cid did not respond to an NBC Latino request for comment but updated its website with a statement.

“Our t-shirts were created as a witty and comical statement regarding ILLEGAL immigrants. There are NO racial nor hate remarks towards any specific ethnic group. Taco Cid and its employees are not racists,” the statement continued. ”As most tax paying Americans, we do believe ILLEGAL immigrants are taxing the system we support and live under, thereby, causing us to work harder and pay more taxes in support of their illegal activities which our government has simply chosen to look the other way. Is it racist to disagree with those who are not supporting the American system?”

Taco Cid employees wear the shirts and they are also available for purchase, according to Think Progress.

Brian Cohen, is the owner of BeWild.com, which also sells the shirts and says the shirts are not his designs — they just sell them.

“It’s not one of our top sellers but it sells,” he says. “People find it funny, it’s just funny. It’s a stereotype.”

But Pastor Serrano says the Latino community in South Carolina doesn’t find it funny.

“Here we experience a lot of intimidation,” he said.

“This is a very racist state and we fight to get rid of that. We are against anti-immigrant laws and when we see these things it just makes us feel bad.”

RELATED: Playground signs spark allegations of racism