Biden Regime Bans Phrase Illegal Alien, Once Again Ignoring the Law

On Monday, President Biden’s acting directors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) distributed memoranda that once again show how out of touch the Administration is. In the middle of the worst border crisis in decades, with rampant abuse of the asylum system and record numbers of border apprehensions, they decided to take action to ban officers from using the phrase “illegal alien.”

This gesture speaks volumes. To the Biden administration, politically correct terminology is more important than securing the border. At a time when morale among ICE and Border Patrol officers is flagging, their political overlords signal the Administration’s disdain for the very laws that those officers have devoted their careers to enforcing.

The move also displays the legal ignorance of the Biden administration. The term “illegal alien” is not a derogatory term invented by those of us who favor border enforcement. It is a legal phrase that has long been found in federal law. You can find examples at 8 U.S.C. § 1356(r)(3)(ii) (“expenses associated with the detention of illegal aliens”); 8 U.S.C. § 1366(1) (“the number of illegal aliens incarcerated”); and 8 U.S.C. § 1252c (“to arrest and detain certain illegal aliens”).

In contrast, the politically-correct phrase that the Biden Administration is ordering officers to use—“undocumented migrant”—is found nowhere in federal law....

What the Biden administration is doing is mind-numbing. Indeed, it’s Orwellian....

Chief of Border Patrol Bucks Biden, Will Say ‘Alien’ Until Law Changes, Breitbart, April 27, 2021.

Terminology history and usage: alien and illegal alien, CAIRCO research