Thoughts on FAIR’s Use of the Word “Alien”

A recent FAIR opinion columnsubmission was flagged by an editor who questioned FAIR’s use of the word“alien.”  The editor noted that if theword remained in the column, the publication would be certain to attract a lotof unwanted attention from social justice warriors (my words) who have deemedthe term at best insensitive and, at worst, outright hostile.

Sadly, this folly was actuallynothing new.  FAIR has been criticizedover the years – and sometimes have even had our opinion pieces edited – becauseof our insistence on the use of the word “alien” when referring tonon-citizens.  This infuriates certainelements of the far left, who argue that we’re trying to imply that theseindividuals are from another planet.  Toadd insult to injury, when we refer to individuals who are not in the U.S.legally, we refer to them as “illegal aliens,” which really seems to send somefolks off the deep end.   

We always push back against theseobjections, noting that “alien” is a legal term that is used widely byCongress, the Library of Congress, and most attorneys across the U.S. whendealing with immigration matters.  

Most importantly, it is not just Republicans in Congress that use this term.  In fact, it’s worth noting that the H.R. 6, “The American Dream and Promise Act of 2019,” the amnesty bill passed this week and supported by every single Democrat in the House of Representatives, invoked the word “alien” more than 230 times when referring to individuals who are not citizens of the U.S.

Case closed.