U.S. WILL NO LONGER REFER TO MIGRANTS AS ‘ALIENS’
Biden administration issues new directive to federal agencies
The Biden administration plans to order U.S. immigration enforcement agencies to stop using terms such as “alien,” “illegal alien” and “assimilation” when referring to immigrants in the United States, a rebuke of terms widely used under the Trump administration.
The change is detailed in memos sent Monday to department heads at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, the nation’s chief enforcers of federal immigration laws. It is part of an ongoing effort to reverse President Donald Trump’s hard-line policies and advance Biden’s efforts to build a more “humane” immigration system.
Among the changes: “Alien” will become “noncitizen or migrant,” “illegal” will become “undocumented,” and “assimilation” will change to “integration.”
The memos also send a clear signal to a pair of law enforcement agencies — and their associated labor unions that endorsed Trump’s candidacy for president — that under the Biden administration, their approach must change.
“As the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, we set a tone and example for our country and partners across the world,” CBP’s top official, Troy Miller, said in his memo. “We enforce our nation’s laws while also maintaining the dignity of every individual with whom we interact. The words we use matter and will serve to further confer that dignity to those in our custody.”
ICE acting director Tae Johnson echoed those words in a separate memo, saying, “In response to the vision set by the Administration, ICE will ensure agency communications use the preferred terminology and inclusive language.”
The new guidance mirrors an earlier directive from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes green cards and citizenship applications, and applies broadly to agency communications, including internal correspondence and public information. Officials said the changes take effect immediately.
Border and ICE
Patrol agents routinely use
“alien” and “illegal” on social media, in news releases and in memos to refer to people they take into custody for violating civil immigration laws or crossing the border illegally. In the past, officials and some federal judges have defended using “alien,” because it is the official definition of noncitizen in federal laws. Officials acknowledge that there may be a need to use the terms in “legal or operational documents,” such as when filling out required forms.
Noncitizens include immigrants who are in the United States illegally, as well as millions of legal permanent residents, also known as green-card holders, and visitors arriving on visas for work or tourism.
Advocates for immigrants say the terms are archaic and dehumanizing, and should be scrapped in favor of a more civil tone.
Biden proposed eliminating the term “alien” from federal immigration laws in the citizenship bill he sent to Congress on his first day. The White House has said that replacing “alien” with “noncitizen” recognizes the United States as “a nation of immigrants” — a phrase the Trump administration had struck from the mission statement of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Federal officials say the shifting language is not merely symbolic but part of a broader effort to reorient agencies that became highly politicized under Trump. His orientation of the agencies was widely lauded by Republicans but reviled by many liberal Democrats.
Trump lavished praise on immigration and border agencies during his presidency and urged Congress to dramatically expand their ranks. He allowed ICE to arrest anyone in the
United States illegally, reversing Obama-era restrictions that sought to spare undocumented immigrants who had no criminal records from being deported. And he expanded the barrier on the southwest border with the aim of aiding Border Patrol agents.
Biden has rolled back many of Trump’s policies, such as limiting the immigrants ICE is allowed to detain to national security threats, recent border crossers and people with an aggravated felony conviction.
But he has resisted calls from liberal Democrats to abolish ICE, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has praised CBP’s efforts to contend with a rising influx of migrants at the southwest border.