Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership has instructed employees to resume using the term "alien" in all internal and external communications, according to a leaked memo obtained by Axios on Tuesday.
The memo, issued by acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello, directs ICE employees to revert to statutory language, specifying the replacement of terms like "noncitizen" with "alien" and "noncitizenship" with "alienage." It also reverses the Biden administration's 2021 decision to adopt more inclusive language, replacing words like "alien" with "noncitizen", "undocumented noncitizen" or "undocumented individual" rather than "illegal alien" and "integration or civic integration" instead of "assimilation."
