Post by Luke Hunziker. Colgate Class of 2022.

Source: Alvarez, Priscilla, et al. (2021, April 19). “US Immigration Agencies Ordered to End Use of Terms ‘Alien’ and ‘Assimilation’.” CNN, Cable News Network.

The Biden administration has been working tirelessly to improve the public perception of immigrants from its conception. The administration has aimed its focus on allowing more immigrants to cross the border in an attempt to loosen the strict immigration policy that was implemented by the Trump administration. In the same breath, leaders of the U.S. immigration agencies are making a push to remove the terms “illegal alien” and “assimilation” when discussing immigrants to improve the general public’s perception of immigration and their struggle to enter the United States (Alvarez). Rather than using “alien”, the United States immigration agency is pushing for words such as, “noncitizen,” “migrant,” “undocumented noncitizen,” and is urging the use of “integration” to replace “assimilation.” ICE told CNN that these changes in vocabulary are part of a push to “[adopt] terminology to help rebuild public trust and reshape the agency image. The change reflects ICE’s commitment to treat everyone with whom we interact with respect and dignity while still enforcing our nation’s laws” (Alvarez). ICE seems to believe that changing the vocabulary surrounding immigration may lead to a change in the perception of immigrants. These changes are small, however, they may have significant implications on the future of immigration and how immigrants are viewed in the United States.

Although it may not seem like a major change in immigration policy, I believe this change from the US immigration agency may have a more significant impact on the way immigrants are perceived than most realize. For instance, The National Academies “Revisiting Immigration in the United States” webinar continually stressed the importance of educating the public on the benefits that immigrants provide to the United States, which pushes back on the general stigma that immigrants take jobs from native workers. By changing immigration terminology, the United States immigration agency is trying to reverse the strict immigration policy implemented by Trump, which may lead to the reversal of the negative stigma surrounding immigrants that The National Academies webinar addressed. Speakers on the webinar urged convincingly argued that one of the main problems with immigration is the fact that many people do not understand the benefits that immigrants provide to the U.S. economy because they are simply unaware. The rephrasing of terminology is a small step in the right direction aimed at educating the public about the economic benefits that immigrants provide, rather than “stealing” jobs from natives. Through positive language surrounding immigrants, the general native population and immigrants may benefit from a more comprehensible understanding of their role in the U.S. economy, as well as the positive impact on the wages of native workers that immigrants can potentially provide. Consequently, the implementation of more positive language describing immigrants may seem like a subtle change, however, it is a positive step in the right direction that may reverse the harsh and demonizing stigma that surrounds immigrants and their misunderstood role in the United States economy.