[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fcis%2Fimmigration-judges-forbidden-to-use-the-word-alien Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fcis%2Fimmigration-judges-forbidden-to-use-the-word-alien)
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
Immigration Judges Forbidden to Use the Word ‘Alien’ ([link removed])

Washington, D.C. (July 27, 2021) - A recent article from the Center for Immigration Studies reports on the Biden administration’s plans to alter the terminology ([link removed]) used to refer to “aliens,” and the imposition of those changes on the nation’s 539 immigration judges ([link removed]) (IJs). It is a problematic move, because their job is to apply the law, and the main word they are now all-but forbidden to use — “alien” — is the law.

On July 23, Jean King, Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued Policy Memorandum (PM) 21-27 ([link removed]) . It “directs EOIR staff, including adjudicators, to use language that is ‘consistent with our character as a Nation of opportunity and of welcome.’”

In lieu of the word “alien”, adjudicators must now use “respondent, applicant, petitioner, beneficiary, migrant, noncitizen, or non-U.S. citizen”. Adjudicators can no longer use the phrase “undocumented alien or illegal alien”; instead, those folks are now “undocumented noncitizens, undocumented non-U.S. citizens, or undocumented individuals”.

None of these changes has any basis in law. “Noncitizen” is not a word, at least not in a legal sense, because it includes “aliens” and non-citizen “nationals”.

The bigger issue, however, is that when it comes to the INA, the now-banned word “alien” is the law. King admitted this fact, circuitously, when she granted adjudicators forbearance to use the term "when quoting a statute, regulation, legal opinion, court order, or settlement agreement”. Congress conveys its intentions in the law by using specific words, and it is incumbent on adjudicators to assess those intentions by using those words.

View the full article: Immigration Judges Forbidden to Use the Word ’Alien’ ([link removed])

Andrew Arthur, the Center's resident fellow in law and policy, writes, "Each and every word in the INA has meaning, and it is the job of IJs and BIA members to assess the meaning of any word by using it, and using it correctly. Now, an unelected bureaucrat is telling IJs how they are supposed to speak. That is just one small step removed from telling them how to rule, and PM 21-27 signals to them which way decisions are supposed to go. Here’s a hint: Ordering an alien removed denies that alien “opportunities” in the United States and is not “welcoming” in the least."
Visit Website ([link removed])
Donate ([link removed])
Related Articles:

Changing 'Alien' to 'Noncitizen' ([link removed])
More Immigration Newspeak: Associated Press Edition ([link removed])
The Words ‘Alien’ and ‘Assimilation’ Banned by the Biden Administration ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** [link removed] ([link removed])
** Google Plus ([link removed])
** LinkedIn ([link removed])
** RSS ([link removed])
Copyright © 2021 Center for Immigration Studies, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Center for Immigration Studies
1629 K St., NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
USA

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.

** View this e-mail in your browser. ([link removed])

This is the Center for Immigration Studies CISNews e-mail list.