00:00There is a word that has become the favorite of Trump administration
00:03to refer to migrants.
00:05Alien.
00:06And although many considerate that it's a way despective
00:09to refer to this population,
00:11it doesn't appear in all types of official pronunciations.
00:14Discursos,
00:15formularios of solicitude of visas,
00:17communications of the press, etc.
00:18But what is the story of this term?
00:20Alien comes from the latin alienus,
00:22which means ajenos,
00:24foranio or extraño.
00:25So in English it was initially adopted as a simple synonym of extranjero.
00:29In the official language,
00:31there are records of use from the end of the 18th century,
00:34like in the Alien Enemies Act of 1798,
00:38the same thing that Trump revived in March of 2025
00:40to deport a hundreds of supposed pandilleros venezolanos.
00:43But that's another issue.
00:44It's important to understand that it's not a invention of Trump's government,
00:48but that there is a whole political movement around him
00:51that has been revived under his mandato.
00:53In many times in history,
00:55it's been tried to eliminate the governmental language.
00:56Like with a policy of law,
00:59the congressman Joaquin Castro in 2015 and 2021,
01:02or the president Joe Biden during his mandato.
01:05However, when Trump returned to the White House,
01:08Alien was installed again as a standard to nominate migrants.
01:12According to the doctor Michael Lechuga,
01:14academic of the University of New Mexico,
01:16this is a term that is used specifically
01:19to dishumanize migrants.
01:20But even so, it seems to be that Alien came to stay,
01:24at least until Trump's presidency.
01:26To expand this analysis,
01:27don't forget to visit the magazine cultural of El Espectador.
01:30And tell us,
01:31what power do you think these words have?
01:33And for more content,
01:35follow us on our social media.
01:42Thanks,
