A Florida lawmaker wants the state to stop using the term "illegal aliens," saying the second word should be changed to something less ... foreign.
"I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," Sen. Frederica Wilson told The News-Press. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."
"We don't say 'alien,' we say 'immigrant,'" she said.
Click here to read The News-Press article.
Wilson, who represents thousands of Caribbean immigrants, has introduced a bill that would ban the term "illegal alien" from any official documents developed by the state though no penalty would be applied if the language slipped in.
The Miami Democrat told the paper she was particularly irked by the use of the term when she was hearing testimony on a previous bill she sponsored allowing foreign-born children to get in-state tuition at colleges and universities.
She said she's not as concerned about the use of the word "illegal" in the expression, but "I like 'undocumented' better."
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