Name: From 'aliens' to 'noncitizens' – the Biden administration is proposing to change a legal term to recognize the humanity of non-Americans
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From 'aliens' to 'noncitizens' – the Biden administration is proposing to change a legal term to recognize the humanity of non-Americans

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provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.A profound . Following up on , the U.S. Citizenship Act would eliminate the term “alien” from the U.S. immigration laws.The country’s bedrock immigration law, the Immigration and Nationality Act, would be amended to say that “[t]he term ‘noncitizen’ means any person not a citizen or national of the United States.”Some might think that terminology is not a big deal. But as , I believe that the one-word change could deeply influence Americans’ views about the rights of noncitizens and, by so doing, the future trajectory of immigration law and policy.In forging immigration law and policy, it is far easier to deny the humanity of an “alien” than to do so for a “noncitizen.” The use of the word “ of noncitizens of color, from , and more.Consider that, in restricting immigration and deportations, generations of U.S. government officials, but especially those of , frequently used the term “illegal aliens.”For instance, that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency “will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States.”Officials in to refer to the same people.Similarly, use of language by Supreme Court justices telegraphs how a case will come out, as well as suggests . In writing for the Supreme Court in 2020 upholding deportation of an asylum seeker without a hearing, that “[e]very year, hundreds of thousands of aliens are apprehended at or near the border attempting to enter this country illegally.”In contrast, Justice , “[t]he Court uses the term noncitizen throughout this opinion to refer to any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States.”The first federal immigration legislation, the , expressly targeted Chinese immigrants for exclusion from the United States from 1882 to 1965. Over time, the terms “alien” and “illegal alien” replaced the references to the Chinese in the immigration laws.The word “alien” is the core of the , which as amended constitutes the comprehensive U.S. immigration law. The law governs which “aliens” may be admitted to, and deported from, the United States. Immigration law dictates that the “.”The term “illegal alien” has been criticized as a . Today, “illegal alien” often is employed to refer to Mexicans and Central Americans.“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” former President Donald Trump said in mid-2019.Late in the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump aide Stephen Miller tried to discredit Biden’s immigration policies by saying that Arizona, for example, “.”In a , I criticized the dehumanizing impacts of alien terminology and how it helps to rationalize the harsh treatment of people:“Citizens have a large bundle of political and civil rights, many of which are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution; aliens have a much smaller bundle and enjoy far fewer constitutional and statutory protections…. [T]he use of the term alien helps to reinforce and strengthen nativist sentiment toward members of new immigrant groups, which in turn influences U.S. responses to immigration and human rights issues.”The legal creation of the “alien” helps to justify the fact that our legal system offers noncitizens only limited rights. Constitutional law scholar Alexander Bickel noted that the use of terms that dehumanize people helps justify the .[The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. .]Consider the public debate. Advocates of immigration enforcement claim that today’s faceless must be stopped. For example, more than a decade ago that .”The Federation for American Immigration Reform, an advocacy group that works to limit immigration, recently issued a press release announcing that “.”Glenn Spencer, the president and founder of , an advocacy group that tracks migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, has said that “[e]very illegal alien in our nation must be deported immediately. …”Although a seemingly minor and technical change, the elimination of “alien” from the U.S. immigration laws might transform the entire discussion of immigrants.Terminology matters. Humans, not faceless invaders, are affected by the immigration laws. “Noncitizen” is more neutral than “alien.” On this score, the U.S. Citizenship Act would take a small but important step toward treating immigrants with humanity.Write an article and join a growing community of more than 152,000 academics and researchers from 4,476 institutions.

provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.A profound . Following up on , the U.S. Citizenship Act would eliminate the term “alien” from the U.S. immigration laws.The country’s bedrock immigration law, the Immigration and Nationality Act, would be amended to say that “[t]he term ‘noncitizen’ means any person not a citizen or national of the United States.”Some might think that terminology is not a big deal. But as , I believe that the one-word change could deeply influence Americans’ views about the rights of noncitizens and, by so doing, the future trajectory of immigration law...

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From 'aliens' to 'noncitizens' – the Biden administration is proposing to change a legal term to recognize the humanity of non-Americans

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