Ilhan Omar's Orwellian Bill Would Prohibit Federal Agencies From Saying 'Illegal Alien'
Rep.
Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., walks through an underground tunnel at the Capitol
as top House Democrats plan to offer a measure that condemns
anti-Semitism in the wake of controversial remarks by the freshman
congresswoman, in Washington, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Omar said last
week that Israel's supporters are pushing U.S. lawmakers to take a
pledge of "allegiance to a foreign country." Despite criticism from
Democrats and Republicans, Omar has refused to apologize. (AP Photo/J.
Scott Applewhite)
On Tuesday, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) introduced H.R. 3776,
a bill to prevent federal agencies from using the word "alien" to refer
to foreign nationals. Castro is the chairman of the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus, and 13 of the 16 cosponsors are members of the caucus
as well. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) also cosponsored the legislation.
"Words
matter. It’s vital that we respect the dignity of immigrants fleeing
violence and prosecution in our language," Castro said in a press release
on the bill. "The words 'alien' and 'illegal alien' work to demonize
and dehumanize the migrant community. They should have no place in our
government’s description of human beings."
Drawing in broad strokes, Castro defended all immigrants as acting "in good faith."
"Immigrants
come to our borders in good faith and work hard for the opportunity to
achieve a better life for themselves and their family. Eliminating this
language from government expression puts us one step closer to
preserving their dignity and ensuring their safety," he declared.
His
office proudly announced "the CHANGE Act, legislation that eliminates
the term 'alien' and 'illegal alien' from the Immigration and
Nationality Act, and replaces them with 'foreign national' and
'undocumented foreign national,' respectively."
Rep.
Castro serves as the campaign co-chair for his identical twin
brother, Julián Castro, a former HUD secretary running for president in
2020. The presidential candidate did not respond to aa request for
comment.
Democrats have
launched an assault on basic language when it comes to immigration
issues. They have demonized the Trump administration, blaming it for
putting "kids in cages" — something that only happened on Obama's watch — and for enforcing immigration law.
Democrats
have insisted that "no one is illegal," even if they break U.S. law to
enter the country. This involves an Orwellian redefinition of
immigration — claiming immigrants cannot be "illegal" because to be
illegal is supposedly less than human.
The Castro bill goes even further, preventing use of the word "alien." Merriam-Webster dictionary
defines "alien," the noun, as "a person of another family, race, or
nation," example: "aliens seeking asylum in the U.S." The second
definition is similar: "a foreign-born resident who has not been
naturalized and is still a subject or citizen of a foreign country."
Only the third definition involves extraterrestrials.
The
term "illegal alien" refers to a foreign person who has entered the
U.S. illegally. More specifically, it means "a person of another nation"
or "a foreign-born resident" who has entered or remained in the country
illegally. This does not make them less than human.
It
appears Castro, Omar, and their allies are using the term "illegal
alien" as a weapon to delegitimize U.S. immigration law. Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has already done this by branding Immigration
and Customs Enforcement detention centers "concentration camps."
Ocasio-Cortez also linked this attack to the "Never Again" campaign,
making it clear she was accusing ICE of operating a Holocaust against
immigrants.
This rhetoric seems to have inspired Willem Van Spronsen,
a self-identified member of antifa who condemned ICE centers as
"concentration camps" in his manifesto, to throw Molotov cocktails at an
ICE facility — endangering the lives of migrants.
When it comes to demonization, "The Squad" are experts. Now, they're demonizing clear language on immigration.
Or perhaps this whole legislation is just a response to the Area 51 raid, a Facebook event
that has drawn the interest of 1.4 million people. Perhaps these
Democrats are so intent on not calling humans "aliens" because they know
something we don't. Will the Area 51 raid reveal the existence of
extraterrestrials?
Who am I
kidding? If extraterrestrials are discovered, Democrats will want to
prevent Americans from calling them "aliens" as well. After all, we
wouldn't want to dehumanize the little green men, right?
