The immigration reform proposed by the president, Joe Biden, seeks to achieve a change in US laws that may seem small but has an immense symbolic meaning:
replace the word
alien
(
foreign
, in Spanish, although it has even extraterrestrial connotations) by the term
noncitizen
(non-citizen, in Spanish).
The summary of the bill made public this Wednesday by the new Administration explains that the decision seeks to recognize the United States as a
"nation of immigrants"
, according to the CNN chain.
The project proposes a path to citizenship for approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants who have been living in the country for at least eight years.
Biden also ordered, on his first day, to pause deportations for 100 days.
The use of the term
alien
in English to refer to a foreigner has been criticized by immigrant rights groups for
its negative and dehumanizing connotation
.
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“The way we talk about immigrants shapes public policy.
It frames what are the problems that are really at stake, ”José Antonio Vargas, an undocumented immigrant and founder of Define American, an organization that promotes fairer representations of immigrants, told CNN.
The term change, he noted, makes it clear that we are talking about "human beings and families."
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The law currently defines
alien
as "any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States."
During the Donald Trump administration, some federal officials encouraged its use, while
several states and local governments took steps to ban it
.
California removed the word from the state's labor code in 2015. New York City removed it from its statute and administrative code last year.
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Trump used the term
"
illegal
aliens
"
repeatedly in his speeches, claiming unsubstantiated that they are a danger to the country.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) also used the word in their communications, sometimes sparking jokes and memes on social media about the extraterrestrial origin of undocumented immigrants.
But not everyone in the Trump Administration agreed with that designation: In a 2019 interview with The Washington Post, published shortly before he stepped down as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan said he avoided using the term.
"
I think words matter a lot
," McAleenan said.
With information from CNN.