By: Ronald Kotkin
During the height of impeachment frenzy, with initially very little media coverage last week the New York City Commission on Human Rights banned the term “illegal alien” along with threatening to report offenders to ICE.
This ironically occurred as The Washington Examiner and CBS News briefly reported that two alleged child rapists are at large after New York and New Jersey law enforcement authorities refused to hold them in jail for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigration officials say.
Calling someone an “illegal alien” or threatening to report them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) now comes with a fine of $250,000 in New York City.
The New York City Commission on Human Rights announced the move recently in a press release that included guidance on what exactly would be considered derogatory use of certain terminology based on the user’s motivations, FOX News reported.
Free speech advocates immediately responded by pointing out this Orwellian violation of the 1st amendment.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pointed out that the term “illegal alien” is actually the correct terminology under federal law to describe a person who is in the country illegally.
“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,” NYC Human Rights Commission Chair Carmelyn Malalis said.
The directive also listed a number of examples of acts or remarks that could get a person into trouble in the Big Apple, the New York Post reported.
“A hotel prohibits its housekeepers from speaking Spanish while cleaning because it would ‘offend’ hotel guests or make them uncomfortable,” was one example.
“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,” was another example, according to the New York Post.
Ironically this law was rolled out at the same time it was reported that Two Mexican nationals were taken into custody for separate incidents on charges that they sexually assaulted a minor. Luciano Trejo-Dominguez was arrested by New Jersey police for allegedly restraining and sexually assaulting a child younger than 16 in August, while Joaquin Rodriguez Quiroz was arrested by police in New York on 3rd-degree rape charges earlier this month.
ICE and Pacific Enforcement Response Center both filed detainers to have the men held in jail until ICE officers could pick them up. However, local law enforcement in both states then released the suspects back into the public despite the requests.
New York and New Jersey law enforcement authorities refused to hold them in jail for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigration, as the result of Sanctuary City laws.
“This bizarre law, while it might have good intentions is blatant violation of free speech and quite Orwellian, free speech allows for unpleasant or insulting speech, I don’t see it humanly possible to enforce this nonsense, it’s Orwellian and a clear example of thought control”, political commenter and former podcaster Jared Evan pointed out to TJV.
