Justice Department orders lawyers to use racist term for immigrants

The Trump administration is officially ordering U.S. attorneys to use racist, politically charged language when referring to immigrants.

Instead of the term “undocumented immigrants,” the new directive instructs government lawyers to use the terminology preferred by racists, “illegal aliens.”

The order sent out to U.S. attorneys’ offices came from the Trump Justice Department, led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions has a long history of making racist comments and advocating racist ideas.

The email noted, “The word ‘undocumented’ is not based in US code and should not be used to describe someone’s illegal presence in the country.”

However, the code refers to the act of crossing the border — but the Trump administration guidance demands that a derogatory label be applied to an entire group of people.

“The phrase illegal aliens has taken on a pejorative tone in recent years,” noted the Library of Congress in a statement announcing that it would no longer use the term.

These dehumanizing connotations have also led other institutions like the Associated Press to stop using the term, much to the consternation of many conservatives.

Some anti-immigration conservatives shorten the offensive phrase “illegal aliens” into the possibly even more offensive term “illegals.”

As the National Association Of Hispanic Journalists has previously explained, “Using ‘illegals’ in this way is grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by dehumanizing and criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed.”

The offensive directive sent to U.S. attorneys is yet another example of how Trump and his top officials turn his racist worldview into official government policy.

Trump launched his presidential campaign by referring to Mexicans as rapists. As president, he went on to describe immigrants as “animals.”

Then the Trump administration started directly oppressing immigrants and their families by ripping children from their parents’ arms.

And the harm has only continued. Trump has utterly failed to reunite most separated families before a court-ordered deadline — and has even deported hundreds of parents while their children remain separated and detained in the United States.

Trump wants the government to reflect his racist worldview. Sessions clearly shares that worldview — and he is forcing its bile onto U.S. attorneys who have been entrusted to uphold the law.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.