In a move seen as symbolic to his approach on immigration, President Joe Biden has banned the term ‘alien’ to describe illegal immigrants in the United States.
Instead, officials are urged to replace it with the word ‘noncitizens’.
A memo to the US Citizen and Immigration Services encourages staff to adopt ‘more inclusive language’.
This comes ahead of a major policy shift on immigration which the President was expected to unveil this week.
Under the heading of a U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, the proposed immigration reform bill was said to be “a more humane stance on the pathway to citizenship” for over 10 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
According to a release from the Biden White House, the new bill “provides hardworking people who enrich our communities every day and who have lived here for years, in some cases for decades, an opportunity to earn citizenship.”
Modernising the immigration system by keeping families together and managing the border with smart investments are listed as priorities, alongside addressing the root causes of migration from Central America.
“The bill will stimulate our economy while ensuring that every worker is protected,” it adds.
Creating "an earned path to citizenship" including Dreamers and the essential workers who have risked their lives to serve and protect American communities, are including in the policy outline.
This comes as Mr Biden continues to move his administration away from the harsh immigration stance of the previous Trump administration with a focus on "ensuring that the United States remains a refuge for those fleeing persecution."
He has already started to unravel the contentious immigration policies of the Trump government overturning a ban on travellers from 11 Muslim-majority countries.
The tone and objective of the proposed U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 was also addressed by Mr Biden during a live “town hall” programme aired on CNN this past Tuesday.
Plans are to have the bill passed into law in stages.
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