A Southern California Immigrant Rights group has asked Target to remove this costume from their shelves, stating that the ‘illegal alien’ costume is offensive to immigrants. Duh, ya think? Can’t imagine why anyone can’t take a joke. [sarcasm alert]
In the first place, many immigrants, as they learn English, take exception to the term ‘alien’ because of the outer space implication. The orange jump suit and ‘green card’ just add a few more layers to the degree of offensiveness.
According to Forbes Magazine:
Target spokesman Joshua Thomas says the company is removing the costume from the site after receiving several complaints.
He says the store never intended to sell the outfit but included it in its online offerings by mistake.
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, says she wrote an e-mail to the Minneapolis-based retailer Friday calling the costume “distasteful, mean-spirited, and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform.”
[UPDATE: This costume has been pulled from Toys R Us and from Target. However, it is still for sale at Amazon.com.
A petition asking the stores to pull the costume maybe be signed here: http://bit.ly/23IuZT]
