Biden wants to remove this controversial word from immigration law

Biden begins to undo Trump's legacy with 19:41 decrees

(CNN) -

It's just a small part of the sweeping immigration reform that President Biden is pushing for.

But its symbolic significance is enormous.

The bill proposed by Biden, if approved, would

eliminate the word "foreigner" (

alien

) of US immigration laws would be replaced by the term "non -

citizen" (

noncitizen

).

It is a deliberate step aimed at recognizing the US as "a nation of immigrants," according to a summary of the bill released by the new administration.

• LEE: What we can expect from the first ten days of Joe Biden's government on immigration and other issues

The term "illegal alien," long denounced by immigrant rights advocates as a dehumanizing insult, became even more of a magnet during the Trump era.

Some high-ranking federal officials encouraged its use, while several states and local governments took steps to ban it.

"The change of language on the first day of this administration, with Kamala Harris the daughter of immigrants, for me is not only symbolic (...) it is foundational", says José Antonio Vargas, an undocumented immigrant whose organization, Define American, promotes representations more precise of immigrants.

advertising

“The way we describe people really endures.

It affects the way we treat them, ”he says.

“The way we talk about immigrants shapes policy.

Frame what issues are really at stake here.

It recognizes that we are talking about human beings and families, "he explains.

What the laws say now

The United States Code currently defines "alien" as "any person who is not a US citizen or national."

In the past, some officials have pointed to the prevalence of the term in US law to defend the word choices they made.

In 2018, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed prosecutors to refer to someone illegally in the US as "an illegal alien."

In doing so, he cited the American Code in an email sent to the entire agency.

• LEE: Biden signs key decrees regarding the pandemic, immigration and equity and begins to reverse Trump's actions

Former President Trump often invoked the term "foreigner" in his speeches, warning of what he saw as the dangers of uncontrolled illegal immigration.

When he spoke on the border with Mexico last week in one of his last speeches as president, Trump used the term at least five times.

"In the Trump administration we were the eternal bogeyman," said Vargas.

"Whenever Trump was in trouble, he would start talking about 'illegals' and talking about the border," he added.

But not everyone in the Trump administration was a fan of the term.

In an interview with the

Washington Post

published shortly before he resigned as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security in 2019, Kevin McAleenan told the newspaper that he avoided using the term "illegal aliens."

Instead, he said he described people as "migrants."

"I think words matter a lot," McAleenan said, according to the

Post

.

"If you alienate half of your audience because of your use of terminology, that is going to hinder your ability to win an argument," he added.

It is not the first effort to change the word

California removed the term "alien" from the state's labor code in 2015.

New York City removed the term from its statute and administrative code last year.

In guidelines issued in 2019, New York City banned the term "illegal alien" when it is used "with the intention of degrading, humiliating or harassing a person."

Violation of the guideline could result in fines of up to $ 250,000, the city warned.

• LEE: Biden takes swift action on immigration on DACA, border wall, travel ban and more

And last year, two Colorado lawmakers introduced a bill to replace the term "illegal alien" with "undocumented immigrant."

The bill was never put to a vote in the Senate.

Phone jokes with the term in the early days of the Trump administration

One of the first times the use of the term "foreigner" attracted widespread attention during the Trump administration was in 2017. It came after officials published a hotline for victims of "crimes committed by removable foreigners."

Pranksters flooded the line with reports about aliens (a pun on English, since they talked about

space aliens

when the line was to report

removable aliens

) and shared examples on social media of their comments about Martians and UFOs.

But Vargas says that term and others used to demonize immigrants are no laughing matter.

Language has power.

And I think we saw it in the Trump administration, how he used dehumanizing terms and how he degraded language and, in turn, degraded people, "says Vargas.

"If you call them 'foreigners', of course you are going to put them in jail, of course you are going to lock them up, of course you are not going to care that you are separating young children from their parents," he adds.

Vargas says the new administration's effort to use more respectful language gives him hope that the views of some Americans about undocumented immigrants may also change. Changing just one word, he says, could have a far-reaching impact for millions of people.