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Spending Bill Seeks to Force Use of Term ‘Illegal Alien’

Report targets Library of Congress' search terminology changes

A House Appropriations Committee report on the 2017 spending bill says the Library of Congress will have to use the term "illegal alien" to describe undocumented immigrants. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
A House Appropriations Committee report on the 2017 spending bill says the Library of Congress will have to use the term "illegal alien" to describe undocumented immigrants. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

The Library of Congress will have to use the term “illegal alien” to describe undocumented immigrants under language included in the House Appropriations Committee report on the $3.5 billion fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch spending bill released Monday.  

In late March, the library announced that it would fine-tune search terms , including changing the term “aliens” to “noncitizens” and “illegal immigration” to “unauthorized immigration.”  



[Related: Republicans Want to Bring Back ‘Illegal Alien’]

The report also endorses additional security screening at the Capitol complex.  

“The rise in terrorist events and the tactics displayed by the assailants,” prompted an evaluation of operational and tactical posture of the force, the report states. “Additional screening and pre-screening” may be rolled out at access points.  


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