noncitizen, undocumented noncitizen

Noncitizen is a term for someone who is living in a place but is not a citizen of that country. The term is increasingly being used by U.S. government agencies. An undocumented noncitizen is someone living in that country without official permission.

In February 2021, Tracy Renaud, the acting leader of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, issued a memo instructing the agency’s leadership to make the following changes: to no longer refer to people as “illegal alien,” “alien,” or “undocumented alien” in internal and external communications, and to instead use the terms “noncitizen,” “undocumented noncitizen,” or “undocumented individual.”

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