re: President* Biden: Dreamers are Americans!

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In a sweeping immigration reform bill, President Joe Biden proposed removing the term "alien" from U.S. immigration laws and replacing it with the word "noncitizen," marking a stark break from the previous administration which encouraged the use of the term "alien."

The bill, which also seeks to provide an eight-year path to citizenship to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, individuals with temporary protected status and millions of others living in the United States without legal immigration status, "further recognizes America as a nation of immigrants," according to a summary of the legislation released by the new administration.

Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the advocacy group Center for Popular Democracy, said in a statement she applauded "many aspects of the proposed legislation, including: the pathway to citizenship," as well as "the elimination of the dehumanizing term 'alien' from the law."

Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-Texas, introduced a similar proposal back in 2015 to remove the phrase "illegal alien" from federal laws and replace it with undocumented "foreign national."

The bill would also have ensured that no executive branch agency uses “alien” or “illegal alien” in signage or literature.

“The term 'alien' is used as a dehumanizing slur, and should be removed from the language in our statutes. This change might seem symbolic, but it’s an important step to restore humanity after years of demonization," Castro said in a statement to NBC News.

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