{"id":18801,"date":"2025-01-26T18:59:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T18:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/social.coldstreams.com\/?p=18801"},"modified":"2025-12-03T10:12:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T18:12:45","slug":"the-evolving-language-of-illegal-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/2025\/01\/26\/the-evolving-language-of-illegal-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"The evolving language of &#8220;illegal&#8221; migration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Federal law, the term for someone who entered the U.S. illegally, or stayed illegally, is &#8220;<em>illegal alien<\/em>&#8220;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<em>Illegal alien<\/em>&#8221; long ago became &#8220;<em>illegal immigrant<\/em>&#8221; in pop culture and language.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<em>Illegal immigrant<\/em>&#8221; then gave way to &#8220;<em>undocumented immigrant<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<em>Undocumented immigrant<\/em>&#8221; was then changed to &#8220;<em>undocumented migrant<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In recent years, the media replaced this with just &#8220;<em>migrant<\/em>&#8221; blurring the distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration. All are lumped together.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A Newsweek reporter is now using the term &#8220;<em>unauthorized citizen<\/em>&#8221; (see below). Will this become the new terminology? Some communities allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, such as for school boards and parks and some governments provide taxpayer funded financial aid (for housing, health care and K-12 and university education) and legal support to contest detainment for being in the country illegally. In my state, Oregon an undocumented migrant can get a driver&#8217;s license, receive Medicaid and other government services. These activities and actions seem to be leaning towards &#8220;<em>unauthorized citizen<\/em>&#8220;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The vocabulary evolves because someone chose to evolve it. Often, this occurs due to media propaganda &#8211; and did not arise from a &#8220;grass roots&#8221; response of the people. Instead, the language is altered as part of an influence\/propaganda effort, and is often done by public relations consultants and media operatives. Read the following to learn how the Guardian invented new terminology to be used with &#8220;climate change&#8221;: <a href=\"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/2019\/10\/17\/climate-communications-and-journalismish-crisis-emergency-deniers-and-the-language-of-propaganda-in-the-guardian\/\">Climate communications and Journalism\u2019ish: Crisis, Emergency, Deniers and the language of propaganda in The Guardian \u2013 Social Panic<\/a>. More <a href=\"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/2023\/01\/14\/media-fiction-news-site-realizes-its-approach-is-not-working\/\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"980\" height=\"468\" src=\"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-218.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18802\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-218.png 980w, https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-218-600x287.png 600w, https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-218-768x367.png 768w, https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-218-565x270.png 565w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On <a href=\"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\">my Travel blog<\/a> I have written many posts about the importance and role of legal immigration for all countries.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The above comments are in regards to how changing the language itself is a form of propaganda messaging to persuade a group of people (the target of the messaging) to adopt someone else&#8217;s agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In December 2025, I asked Copilot AI about the terminology for describing immigrants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Under U.S. federal law, the formal statutory term is <em>\u201calien\u201d<\/em>, and in certain contexts \u201cillegal alien\u201d appears in the code. However, the phrase is used sparingly in statutes, while \u201calien\u201d remains the consistent legal term.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcdc What Federal Law Actually Says<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Immigration and Nationality Act (INA):<\/strong> The INA defines an <em>\u201calien\u201d<\/em> as <em>\u201cany person not a citizen or national of the United States.\u201d<\/em> This is the baseline legal term used throughout Title 8 of the U.S. Code.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Improper entry statute (8 U.S.C. \u00a7 1325):<\/strong> This law criminalizes unauthorized entry by an <em>alien<\/em> \u2014 someone entering without inspection or by misrepresentation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Other statutes (8 U.S.C. \u00a7 1324):<\/strong> Cover offenses like smuggling, transporting, or harboring unauthorized <em>aliens<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Use of \u201cillegal alien\u201d:<\/strong> The phrase <em>\u201cillegal alien\u201d<\/em> does appear in federal law and case law, but not as a universal definition. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Why the Terminology Shifted<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Legal vs. policy language:<\/strong> Courts and statutes stick to <em>alien<\/em> or occasionally <em>illegal alien<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Administrative practice:<\/strong> Agencies like USCIS and ICE often use \u201cundocumented immigrant\u201d or \u201cnoncitizen\u201d in public-facing materials.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Political and cultural framing:<\/strong> <strong><em>\u201cIllegal immigrant\u201d and \u201cundocumented immigrant\u201d became common in media and advocacy to soften or reframe the connotation of \u201calien.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Recent changes:<\/strong> <strong><em>In 2021, the Biden administration directed immigration agencies to replace \u201calien\u201d with \u201cnoncitizen\u201d in official communications, though the statutory language in Title 8 remains unchanged.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2696\ufe0f The Current Proper Legal Definition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Statutory term:<\/strong> <em>Alien<\/em> \u2014 still the controlling legal word in federal law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Contextual usage:<\/strong> \u201cIllegal alien\u201d is legally valid but not the universal statutory phrase; it appears in some provisions and case law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Modern practice:<\/strong> <em>\u201cNoncitizen\u201d or \u201cundocumented immigrant\u201d are policy and cultural terms, not legal definitions.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How we went from &#8220;illegal alien&#8221; to the new term &#8220;unauthorized citizen&#8221;. The evolution of terminology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[356,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-card-stacking","category-in-practice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}