“Illegal Alien” Halloween Costume Stirs Up Controversy
19 October 2009, 11:55 AM. By Alex Alvarez
Target and Toys R Us have decided to discontinue sales of the costume pictured at left after it received backlash from immigrants’ rights groups. The “Illegal Alien” costume is described thusly:
He didn’t just cross a border, he crossed a galaxy! He’s got his green card, but it’s from another planet! Sure to get some laughs, the Illegal Alien Adult Costume includes an orange prison-style jumpsuit with “Illegal Alien” printed on the front, an alien mask and a “green card.”
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, called the costume “distasteful, mean-spirited, and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform” in her emails to several distributors, urging them to pull the Halloween costume from their shelves and off their websites.
The costume does, however, have at least a couple of fans in the form of Fox and Friends hosts, who find this “legally-challenged” costume an absolute scream:
Whether it’s offensive is, of course, a matter of opinion, but the costume does at least serve to add fuel to the fire created by people who believe that, in order to be anti-illegal immigration, they also have to be anti-immigrant.
And? We still believe the most offensive Halloween costumes of all time have already been chronicled right here on Guanabee. A taste, so to speak:
‘Illegal Alien’ Halloween Costume Sparks Ire [NY Times]
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I think it’s funny. You could almost make a case that it’s satirical.
This was my initial reaction to it, too.
I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Then again, I’m self-loathing.
its offensive but funny. it reminds me of last years halloween.
I think it’s pretty funny actually.
what is the problem? it doesn’t ofend me.
The problem is that this stuff gives fringe groups (The Minutemen, Neo-Nazis, KKK, The Arizona state legislature) ammunition to go spread hate against dark-skinned people. Listen, some of you are probably lighter on the skin tone and might not suffer from the brunt of overt racism, but for people like me, that is to say, those that possess melanin, this costume is neither favorable nor funny.
the more we pay attention to crap like this, the more they make it bigger than it really is. sh*t have a laugh, if you speak out about this, people are going to associate it with latin americans.
I beg to differ. No matter if you speak out against this or ignore it, people are going to assume a connection between this costume (illegal alien) and those of obvious (ie, dark-skinned: brownish hue) present-day Latin American descent.
I’m not even slightly offended by this. He’s just abducting the people that Americans won’t abduct.