House Republicans' #WrongWay Agenda of Hate Continues
But House Democrats will continue fighting for and defending the Latino and immigrant communities across the United States.
From Santa Fe New Mexican:
U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-Santa Fe, joined a group of Hispanic Democrats on Thursday in a battle against congressional Republicans who want the Library of Congress to use the term "illegal aliens" when referring to undocumented immigrants.
The Library of Congress in March proposed to stop using the words "alien" and "illegal aliens" in its subject headings. Its staff proposed to replace them with words such as noncitizens or unauthorized immigrants.
But Republicans in the House of Representatives added language to a pending budget bill that would mandate continued use of the terms.
"In a week that saw House Republicans defend Trump's racist comments about federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, it is disappointing, but not surprising, that they are now taking unprecedented steps in order to preserve an offensive term that has no place in our discourse," Luján said.
Lujan Grisham has said the term "illegal alien" is unnecessary in this day and age. "Worse, we've seen how these terms are used to demean and devalue human beings for political purposes."
A spokeswoman for Rep. Steve Pearce of Hobbs, the lone Republican in the New Mexico congressional delegation, did not respond to questions from The New Mexican asking what Pearce's stance was.
From Texas Tribune:
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro on Thursday lost his battle with Congressional Republicans who want the U.S. Library of Congress to continue using controversial immigration terms in its search headings.
Castro, D-San Antonio, countered by calling for a floor vote on legislation he authored that would replace the terms "alien" and "illegal alien" in federal law with "foreign national" and "undocumented foreign national."…
The terms have been a source of debate for years, with immigrant rights groups saying they are demeaning and inaccurate. Castro said in a floor speech the terms were "prejudicial" and "offensive to Hispanics."
"House Republicans are trying to force the most prestigious library in our nation to use the offensive, divisive language of their candidate for President, Donald Trump," Castro said. "This effort is proof that his ugly rhetoric is permeating the party he leads."
Castro will keep trying to convince his colleagues to vote against the appropriations on Friday, and he expressed confidence that the language will eventually disappear from common use.
From San Antonio Current:
Republicans in Washington D.C. have taken an unusual interest in the Library of Congress' day-to-day business lately.
For the first time in history, conservatives hijacked a legislative appropriations bill to stop the Library of Congress from abandoning the term "illegal alien" from how it catalogs the 162 million-item collection it manages.
Thursday, Castro forced legislation he proposed earlier this year called the Correcting Hurtful and Alienating Names in Government Expression (CHANGE) Act, which would have removed every instance of the terms "alien" and "illegal alien" from federal law, replacing them with "foreign national" and "undocumented foreign national," to a vote…
From NBC Latino:
The rebuff follows Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's widely criticized reference to federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel as "Mexican" even though he was born in the U.S. and Trump calling into question Curiel's ability to do his job because of his Mexican heritage. Curiel is presiding over a class-action lawsuit against Trump University.
That has put several Republicans in the uncomfortable place of having to defend their support of him and take a position on his comments. House Speaker Paul Ryan called Trump's language textbook racism, but said he would still support him.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referenced debate over the issue in her weekly news conference as she criticized Trump and Republicans. The GOP has "comfortably surrendered to their new standard-bearer and his discrimination agenda because it is an agenda House Republicans have shared," Pelosi said.
"On the floor of the House they are trying to require the Library of Congress to use dehumanizing terms when they refer to undocumented immigrants in our country," she said.
From Cronkite News:
House Republicans are trying to block a Library of Congress proposal to replace the term "illegal aliens" with "noncitizens" in its subject listings…
But Democrats said keeping the old language preserves a "dehumanizing" term and accused Republicans of politicizing the debate over the fiscal 2017 budget bill for the legislative branch, which includes funding for the library.
But Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, said it is the Republicans who are playing politics with the language.
"This makes an otherwise bipartisan bill partisan," Grijalva said of the fight over the budget bill. "The majority decided to make a political statement on a bill that doesn't need to be partisan, just the money needed to fund legislative operations."
There was a time when the Library of Congress used the subject heading "Insanity," and today, it uses "Mental Illness." There was a period when they used "Negro," and now use "African American." Democrats will continue to ensure that we uphold our American values, honor our national motto of ‘E Pluribus Unum' and continue to make a simple appeal to House Republicans: #DoYourJob and end the #WrongWay agenda of hate.