New York is set to become the first major American city to remove legal language that many believe refers to undocumented residents in a negative light.

The City Council passed Thursday legislation that would expunge the terms “alien,” “illegal immigrant” and “illegal migrant” from local laws, rules, orders, city documents and other materials. The terms will be replaced by the word “noncitizen.”

Forty-six of the 50 City Council members present at the May 28 remote stated meeting supported the legislation.

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Seven City Council members co-sponsored the legislation, including Brooklyn’s Farah Louis; Queens’ Daniel Dromm and Costa Constantinides; and Manhattan’s Ben Kallos, Keith Powers, Carlina Rivera and Helen Rosenthal.