For many years the American government has used such terms as “alien” and “illegal alien” when referring to non-US citizens—terms that many immigration advocates have denounced as “dehumanizing” and offensive. Now, under direction from the Biden administration, Tracy Renaud, the senior official performing the duties of the director of US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), has issued a memo for the agency to no longer refer to foreign nationals as “illegal alien,” “alien,” or “undocumented alien” in internal and external communications, but rather to use the terms “noncitizen,” “undocumented noncitizen,” or “undocumented individual.” Additionally, USCIS will no longer use “assimilation,” but instead use the term “integration,” and also will refer to those who apply for immigration benefits as “customers.”

USCIS spokesperson Joe Sowers said in a statement: "This change is designed to encourage more inclusive language in the agency’s outreach efforts, internal documents and in overall communication with stakeholders, partners, and the general public.” Former Trump administration USCIS official Robert Law criticized the change in a blog post: “Immigration is a complex issue, but the statutory definition of ‘alien’ is as benign as any word in our laws could possibly be,” he wrote. But Raymond Partolan, a Green Card holder from Atlanta, welcomed the change, saying in BuzzFeed. “When we call people aliens we are depriving them of their sense of humanity. Whenever someone uses the word alien it conjures up images of beings that are out of this world.” He added: “I think words matter.”