New York City bans use of term 'illegal alien' in rebuke to Trump administration's immigration crackdown
New York City has now banned people from threatening someone with a call to immigration authorities or referring to them as an "illegal alien" out of hate.
The new restrictions have been outlined in a 29-page directive released by the City Hall's Commission on Human Rights. If a person is found in violation of the law, they will be punished by fines up to $250,000 per offense.
One of the passages of the memo reads: "‘Alien’ — used in many laws to refer to a ‘noncitizen’ person — is a term that may carry negative connotations and dehumanize immigrants, marking them as ‘other.' The use of certain language, including ‘illegal alien’ and ‘illegals,’ with the intent to demean, humiliate, or offend a person or persons constitutes discrimination."
The memo also mentions multiple examples of acts and comments that would violate the new restrictions, including harassing people over their accents or understanding of English, or threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a tool of hatred, according to the New York Post.
One hypothetical situation in the directive states: "A hotel prohibits its housekeepers from speaking Spanish while cleaning because it would ‘offend’ hotel guests or make them uncomfortable." While another states: "An Indian immigrant family complains to their landlord about mold and cockroaches in their unit. The landlord tells them to ‘just deal with it’ and threatens to call ICE if they file a complaint in housing court."
A third probable violation reads: "A store owner tells two friends who are speaking Thai while shopping in his store to ‘speak English’ and ‘go back to your country.'"
The Commission on Human Rights, while announcing the new directives, clearly stated, in part, that the new laws implemented by the city were a rebuke of the crackdown on illegal immigration by the Trump administration.
The agency's commissioner, Carmelyn Malalis, said: "In the face of increasingly hostile national rhetoric, we will do everything in our power to make sure our treasured immigrant communities are able to live with dignity and respect, free of harassment and bias."
The city's directive comes months after Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized coordinated raids by ICE on the immigrant communities in the city.