Rep Joaquin Castro wants to remove the words ‘illegal alien’ from immigration law

Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro wants to strike the words “alien” and “illegal alien” from the government’s legal code, arguing that the terms are hurtful to the immigrant community.

The Correcting Alienating Names in Government Act, or CHANGE Act, would eliminate the words “alien” and “illegal alien” from the Immigration and Nationality Act — the nation’s governing federal immigration law — and other government texts. The terms “foreign national” and “undocumented foreign national” would be used respectively in their place.

“Words matter. It’s vital that we respect the dignity of immigrants fleeing violence and prosecution in our language.”

“The words “alien” and “illegal alien” work to demonize and dehumanize the migrant community. They should have no place in our government’s description of human beings,” said Castro. “Immigrants come to our borders in good faith and work hard for the opportunity to achieve a better life for themselves and their family. Eliminating this language from government expression puts us one step closer to preserving their dignity and ensuring their safety.”

Castro is far from the only Democratic congressman to believe the words “illegal alien” are offensive.

“First, no one is illegal. That term is derogatory now because it dehumanizes people. You can say any other forms of maybe ‘coming in without any regulations’ or so forth, but the use of ‘illegal’ is disrespectful and I ask my colleagues to try in so many ways to not dehumanize our immigrant neighbors who are trying to come in for safe haven,” Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib said during a House committee hearing on July 12.

“No one is an ‘alien.’ This is family separation on a massive scale,” Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted in June. “Dehumanizing immigrants and tearing apart families will not make us any stronger. It will only destroy lives, traumatize children, and make our country less safe.”

Omar said President Donald Trump uses the words “illegal” and “alien” to “justify horrific human rights abuses against migrants.”

The two words have been used for years by the U.S. federal government and immigration agencies and were not meant to carry any negative connotations when first adopted. According to some accounts the terms have been in use since 1790.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services defines the word “alien” as “any person not a citizen or national of the United States. ‘Foreign national’ is a synonym and used outside of statutes when referring to noncitizens of the U.S.” Non-partisan immigration organizations describe the word in a similar fashion.