Illegal Aliens and Strange Bedfellows

I always have to check myself when I find myself on the same side of an issue as Michael Steele. Let alone (oh, yuck) the “Fox & Friends” gang of idiots.

Okay, I’m not really on their side. But I’m working through this one.

ThinkProgress reported today on a brouhaha over a Halloween costume (pictured), showing a stereotypical “Grey” alien in a prison jumpsuit with the phrase “Illegal Alien” on its chest.

My immediate thought was, “Heh, that’s pretty clever.” I’m a sucker for puns and wordplay, even when somewhat juvenile.

Apparently, though, some folks have taken umbrage to the costume, both because the whole question of immigration status is such a political hot potato, and because the term “illegal alien” is considered forbidden in politically correct society.

After receiving complaints about the costume, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles wrote a letter to retailers asking them to stop selling the item. Executive director Angelica Salas called it “distasteful, mean-spirited, and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform.”

[…] “Illegal alien” is a pejorative term that dehumanizes people. The National Hispanic Journalists Association has urged media organizations to stop using the phrase:

Many find the term offensive and dehumanizing because it criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering or residing in the United States. The term does not give an accurate description of a person’s conditional U.S. status, but rather demeans an individual by describing them as an alien. At the 1994 Unity convention, the four minority journalism groups – NAHJ, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and National Association of Black Journalists – issued the following statement on this term: “Except in direct quotations, do not use the phrase illegal alien or the word alien, in copy or in headlines, to refer to citizens of a foreign country who have come to the U.S. with no documents to show that they are legally entitled to visit, work or live here. Such terms are considered pejorative not only by those to whom they are applied but by many people of the same ethnic and national backgrounds who are in the U.S. legally.“

See, to me, I look at this costume and don’t think of it as “mean-spirited” — I mean, it’s an alien. And he’s clearly (in context) here illegally. I’m pretty sure they made this joke in Men in Black, and I don’t recall anyone pitching a fit then.

Maybe that shows my “ignorance” — but I am well aware of the demonization of folks who are here in the country illegally to work at jobs under disgraceful conditions, work that Americans generally won’t do. I am well aware that immigration is a hugely sensitive political issue, and that attempts at meaningful immigration reform have founded at the shoals of nativists on the Right and labor unions on the Left and idjits like Tom Tancredo and a whole slew of other facts that this paragraph is too small to describe. And I’m aware that a big part of that debate is fear and covert (if we’re lucky) racism on the part of far too many White folks (and some others) in this country over the changes and challenges that immigration brings — changes and challenges that most of them faced in their own family tree when their people came over to this country.

But I don’t see that here. I see an alien, of the “outer space” kind. Ah say, Ah say that’s a joke, son! (And that’s where I sort of find myself in the same rhetorical bucket as Fox & Friends, except they dismiss the whole foofoorah in that whole maddeningly smug and scornful fashion the network is known for, and seem to particularly enjoy (nudge-nudge) the idea that it actually is slamming actual illegal aliens, or at least torquing off their supporters. Which is not what I feel about it at all.)

The other question here becomes whether the term “Illegal Alien” is the rhetorical equivalent of “Wetback” in this discussion. It’s a question I’m willing to entertain. “Illegal” is appropriate (this is where I find myself echoing Steele‘s position) because the person is here illegally. Suggesting that this identifies the person with the crime — the person itself is not illegal — is fair enough, but that means we should instead call them criminal aliens, trespassing aliens, etc., which is hardly any better. Simply calling them “undocumented” and referring to their “conditional status” is being disingenuous; their presence here is illegal, regardless of the quite arguable justness or necessity of it, and regardless of how screwed up our immigration process (and the politics around it) is.

The word “alien” is more problematic. In terms of meaning outsider / foreigner, it’s an accurate description, but that’s an older meaning of the word. I can see some folks considering its dehumanizing, as it is more commonly used today — outside of the immigration debate — to refer to non-human aliens.

Like, for example, the one in the costume.

So let me make it clear — if this was a costume of a stereotyped Mexican labeled “Illegal Alien,” I’d understand and agree with it being provocative and dehumanizing. Ditto for another costume that ThinkProgress mentioned (which puts a big black Mexican-stereotype mustache on an alien face). It being wholly a space alien (a goofy green face with antennae would work, too) changes the subject sufficiently that I don’t consider it a slam at any particular group, but a joke. Some folks might use it to make stupid comments about folks who enter this country illegally. Others might use it to strike up a thoughtful or geeky conversation about District 9 or Alien Nation.

In a sense, like “smut,” it’s hard for me to condemn if it can be said to have any “redeeming social importance.” And, like smut, it’s most appropriate for adults (and, in fact, this is an adult costume).

So … am I utterly clueless here? Am I missing some key element that would enlighten me?  It makes me uncomfortable, as I said, to even sound like I’m siding with the GOP or Fox on this, and I don’t think I really am, but I’m not arguing with the pith of their key points. Readers, tell me, do.