Legislation introduced in both chambers of Congress on Thursday by Democrats and supported by the Biden administration would replace the term “alien” with “noncitizen” in existing federal immigration law.
The U.S. Citizenship Act, introduced by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in the House and Senate, respectively, includes a section titled “Terminology with Respect to Noncitizens.”
If codified as law, the bill would remove the term “alien” from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It includes the following clauses:
The term “noncitizenship” means the condition of being a noncitizen.; by striking ‘‘an alien’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘a noncitizen’’; by by striking ‘‘aliens’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘noncitizens’’; by striking ‘‘alien’s’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘noncitizen’s’’; by striking ‘‘alienage’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘noncitizenship.”
Assorted Democrats derided the term “alien” as “dehumanizing” as part of their marketing campaign for the amnesty legislation. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) introduced legislation in 2019 to eliminate the terms “alien” and “illegal alien” from federal law.
The Biden White House already started restricting federal departments’ and employees’ use of language related to immigration.
On Tuesday, Breitbart News reported that the Department of Homeland Security is blocking use of the terms “illegal alien” and “assimilation,” according to internal emails.
In January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were told to stop using the term “illegal alien” in documents, in favor of “undocumented.”
For years, Democrats and the broader left have waged a linguistic war in the realm of immigration, with misnomers such as “undocumented immigrant” becoming ubiquitous within the political vernacular of politicians, news media, and satellite organizations.
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