Metro

City Council introduces bill to bar the term ‘illegal alien’

Don’t let them find out about ‘Wall’ Street.

The City Council’s Committee on Immigration is mulling a bill that would bar municipal government workers from using the terms “alien,” “illegal alien” or “illegal immigrant” in official documents.

“I introduced this bill because words matter and the language we use or choose to use has power and consequences,” said Councilman Francisco Moya (D-Queens) — who first floated the proposal late last month — in a Thursday committee hearing.

The legislation proposes the term “noncitizen” as an alternative.

“This isn’t about replacing one word with another,” said Moya. “It is about treating the individuals these terms describe as human beings.”

Not everyone is on board, though, with Councilman Joe Borelli calling it political correctness run amok.

“Here we are, it’s 2020 and we’re banning words,” said Borelli (R-SI).





The push, however, actually comes on the heels of a city measure passed last year making it against the law to call someone an “illegal alien” or threaten to call immigration authorities on them when motivated by hate, under penalty of fines as high as $250,000.

Bitta Mostofi, commissioner of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, at the hearing signaled support for banning the “offensive and dehumanizing term ‘alien.’”





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