Thread: Committee Rejects Rep. Castro Plea to Let Library of Congress Drop 'Alien'

Committee Rejects Rep. Castro Plea to Let Library of Congress Drop 'Alien'

by SUZANNE GAMBOA NEWS JUN 9 2016, 10:21 AM ET


Democrat Rep. Joaquín Castro criticized Republicans for blocking the Library of Congress from dropping the use of the term "alien" to refer to immigrants, saying the refusal demonstrates how the GOP became the party of Trump.

"A lot of Republicans are sitting around wondering how their party became the party of Donald Trump. This is how you start to get there, by forcing an institution to use language that is dehumanizing to people," Castro said Thursday.

On Wednesday evening, a Republican-led committee rejected a plea from Castro, D-Texas, to amend a bill forcing the Library of Congress to continue using the terms "alien" and "illegal alien," which the Library of Congress had planned to drop.

The decision essentially prevented the amendment from getting a vote on the House floor. The House did vote on a legislative maneuver Castro attempted. He tried to keep the bill from being considered with that language, saying its inclusion didn't comply with legislative rules on unfunded mandates, but he lost that effort on a vote of 231-170.

The Library of Congress uses the term to refer to immigrants regardless of whether they arrived or stayed in the country legally or illegally.

"House Republicans are poised to make history by for the first time ever interfering in the Library of Congress' subject headings processes to preserve a prejudicial term that's particularly offensive to Hispanics," Castro said in testimony to the House Rules Committee Wednesday evening.

"I believe the term alien is not only offensive but also dehumanizing. These folks may not be U.S. citizens, but they're not from outer space. They are human beings," Castro said.

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.

On the House floor, Rep. Roger Woodall, R-Ga., argued that changing the law was not in the jurisdiction of the appropriations committee.

Woodall encouraged changing the language by changing the U.S. Code, something that Castro has proposed in a separate bill. He suggested he'd be supportive of such changes, but said "we do these things better together but we don't do these things by accusing one another of racism and hate."

She complained that rather than addressing the issue of Flint, Michigan's contaminated water problem "we are too busy on the floor trying to use the Library of Congress to use (a) dehumanizing term."

A previous attempt to change the bill was made by Democrats in the Appropriations Committee. Four Republicans joined them in supporting the change, but the effort fell a vote short of approval.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, a member of the Rules Committee, said the amendment had been duly considered by the Appropriations Committee and questioned whether the Rules Committee should "second guess" its decision. Castro responded that it happens all the time in the committee.

According to Castro, the Library of Congress makes thousands of changes to its subject headings every year. Last year it added 4,934 new subject headings, without interference from Congress.

President Barack Obama signed into law last month a bill that removes the terms "Negro" and "Oriental" from the Federal Code.

Committee Rejects Rep. Castro Plea to Let Library of ... - NBC News

They only people who have "dehumanized" these people is their own Country and themselves by Criminal Trespassing into the USA.

Solve the problem on their soil and send them back! Stop this corruption and human trafficking.

No papers...no entry...no rights! "Operation Return to Sender"

Why are the Library of Congress and the Congress spending precious time and resources over what we call illegal aliens? Illegal alien is the term used in US immigration law. The Library of Congress should use the appropriate legal term and Congress should require them to use it. That said, why is the Library of Congress trying to change it to something? Why are they taking up precious legislative time over the silliness of not calling a spade a spade?

Instead of wasting time and resources squabbling over name-calling to identify and distinguish illegal aliens from citizens and immigrants, Congress should be doing everything within its power and voice to have illegal aliens deported, US immigration law enforced, and illegal immigration stopped dead in its tracks.

They should be passing laws to ban automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens, banning any use of federal funds to aid, abet, harbor, shelter, feed, educate and otherwise finance through EITC and other payments to illegal aliens and/or their offspring. Illegal aliens should be arrested and charged with restitution for stealing jobs and educations from American citizens and deported, families intact, no child left behind. If more emphasis was on their crime instead of their employers, we would have a better result.

Trump will do it. And he'll do it quick and cheap. This is not rocket science. This is simple mass enforcement of US immigration law, laws already on the books, laws that exist to protect American workers, income and wages, laws that were passed to prevent and prohibit illegal entry into the United States to suck on jobs, benefits and crime by people who are not supposed to be in our country to begin with.

They gotta go, and Trump will get them out of here. Oh yes, don't doubt it for a minute. He can't wait to get them out of here and open up those jobs for Americans, he is faunching at the bit to get them out of here and off our welfare, education and health care rolls. His goals to make America great and the numbers he's seeking to prove he did it require immediate and rapid deportation of all these blood-suckers, money grabbers, killers, rapists and pedophiles out of here.

"All non-citizens who give birth on US soil whether here on vacation, a Visa, here illegally or otherwise shall be issued a CERTIFICATE OF CHILD BORN ABROAD"

Easy to resolve right now...no such thing as an "anchor baby". Should have never been issued US Birth Certificates.

No US Birth Certificate, no eligibility for taxpayer benefits!

Exactly Beezer, exactly like it's done for children of US citizens born abroad. You go to your own Consulate Office and fill out the proper paperwork to register your children for citizenship in their home country, which is how Americans do it every day all over the world.