By Acacia Coronado -
The Associated Press
Luz Rivas remembers seeing the word on her mother's residence card when she was a child: a
lien
(which translates into Spanish as foreigner, although in English it also has the meaning of extraterrestrial).
In legal language, this indicated that her mother was not yet a US citizen.
But for her young daughter, the word had a more personal meaning.
Because even though they were processing her naturalization, that made her feel as if she did not belong to the country.
"I want other children of immigrants, like me, not to feel the same way, as my family felt when we saw the word
alien,
" said Rivas, who is now an Assemblyman in the California Legislature.
What is the purpose of removing the term 'alien'?
A White House adviser explains
April 20, 202104: 21
The Democratic lawmaker introduced a bill this year that has already passed to replace that word with other terms such as non-citizen or immigrant.
The law was inspired by a language change announced by the Joe Biden Administration to avoid the terms illegal and
alien.
[Biden proposes removing the word 'alien' from immigration law to refer to the undocumented]
Immigrants and immigrant rights groups argue that the term, especially when combined with the word illegal, is dehumanizing and can have a pernicious effect on immigration policy.
The word became
a focal point of debate in several states earlier this year
, as the number of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border increased and sparked a fierce backlash against the Biden Administration's policies by Republican governors and legislators.
Lawmakers in
at least seven states
this year considered removing the use of
alien
and illegal from official language and replacing it with words like undocumented and non-citizen, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
But only two states, California and Colorado, have made that change.
At least 18 states continue to use these two terms,
according to an analysis by The Associated Press news agency.
Colorado State Sen. Julie Gonzales, in an Oct. 15, 2020, file photo. David Zalubowski / AP
State Sen. Julie Gonzales, who co-sponsored the new Colorado law, testified during a hearing before a legislative committee that words like illegal and
alien
were
"dehumanizing and derogatory"
when applied to immigrants.
Gonzales said the legislation was intended to eliminate the only area in Colorado statute where these terms were used to describe people living in the United States without authorization.
[This is the immigration reform approved in the House of Representatives. And now that?]
"That language has been offensive to many people," he
said.
"And some of the fundamentals behind that are really rooted in this idea that a person can certainly commit an illegal act, but
no human being in himself is illegal," he
added.
The use of
alien
to describe non-US citizens has a long history, dating back to the nation's first naturalization law, passed when George Washington was president.
Fearing war with France, Congress also passed the Alien and Sedition Laws in 1798, which were intended to suppress political subversion.
Changing the old government terminology around immigration is not universally accepted as necessary or desirable.
Sage Naumann, a spokesman for the Colorado Senate Republicans, said the Democratic-controlled Legislature should spend its time on issues of greater importance to residents, such as taking action to fight inflation, tackle crime and improve education.
Mexico sets conditions for the return to its territory of asylum seekers in the United States.
Nov. 28, 202101: 43
The Biden administration also received some criticism following its policy change.
"The words we use matter and will serve to further confer that dignity on those in our custody"
Customs and Border Protection ordered its employees in April to avoid using the word
alien
in internal documents and in public communications and instead use
non-citizen or immigrant.
Illegal alien
was also left out, to be replaced by descriptions as an undocumented non-citizen.
"We enforce the laws of our nation while maintaining the dignity of every individual with whom we interact," Acting Commissioner Troy Miller wrote to employees of America's largest law enforcement agency, which includes the Border Patrol.
"The words we use matter
and will serve to further confer that dignity on those in our custody," he added.
On video: A man from Guatemala arrives in Miami on the landing gear of an airplane
Nov. 28, 202101: 38
The
head of the Border Patrol, Rodney Scott, objected
and wrote to other members of the agency that the decree contradicted the language of the criminal statutes although Miller made an exception for legal- documents and plunged the agency said
in a partisan debate .
Scott, a Trump-era designee, declined to sign the order and believes his outspokenness on that and other issues contributed to his being forced to leave his post in June.
"Changing the law is fine but until then the mission is really being politicized," Scott said in an interview.
[The number of immigrants detained and later released with a GPS shackle breaks a record]
An Associated Press analysis (which does not refer to people as alien except in direct quotes) found that more than a dozen states continue to use the terms
alien
or illegal in laws that refer to immigrants. Among them is Texas, where a legislative attempt to transition to different terminology left the committee with bipartisan support this year, but failed to secure a full Texas House hearing.
Democratic state Rep. Art Fierro said he expected a "backlash" when he originally proposed the change.
But after discussions in the committee, he said that to his surprise, the change was seen by both parties as an effort to use more "dignified and respectful" terms.
He noted that he suggested the change because he viewed the original terms as degrading to those seeking to work through the immigration process.
Fierro said he plans to introduce another bill to replace the terms during the state's next regular legislative session, in 2023.
"We are just trying to treat people humanely," he
said.
A new migrant caravan leaves Tapachula for the US border.
Nov. 26, 202100: 33
Rosalidia Dardon knows from her own experience why the language surrounding immigration is so important.
After fleeing violence in El Salvador, she spent about 16 months in an immigrant detention center in California before arriving at a refugee home in Texas in 2016. She was determined to find a job while seeking asylum, but had lost her visa. work upon the expiration of your protected status.
[Thousands of immigrants who were quickly released at the border will have to appear before a judge]
Dardon, 54, blames the ankle monitor he was forced to wear and describing the immigrants in terms like
alien for
the continued refusal to find employment.
There is a specific moment that remains frozen in his memory.
Rosalidia Dardon, 54, looks at a photo of her daughter in El Salvador as she sits in a refugee house in Texas, awaiting asylum or protected immigration status on November 4, 2021.Acacia Coronado / AP
"I'm not going to give you a job because you're a criminal
," Dardon told the AP in Spanish, repeating what a hiring manager in Texas told him.
"I would ask myself and God why they put me on an ankle monitor if my only sin was going to a country other than my own,"
lamented Dardon, whose immigration case is still pending.
“Without Latinos, this country would spiral downward.
That is why we should be treated better ”, he declared.