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McGavick sticks by use of "illegals" in TV ad

Posted by David Postman at 05:50 PM

A coalition of immigrant rights and liberal interest groups wants Mike McGavick to stop airing a TV ad that refers to "illegals," saying it is offensive "anti-immigrant rhetoric."

McGavick told me he thinks a press conference by the groups was no more than a "staged event by Senator Cantwell's allies" and called the groups' charge "absurd."

The ad began airing yesterday and features McGavick talking about his differences with Sen. Maria Cantwell on a series of issues. He says in the ad:

Senator Cantwell voted to allow Social Security benefits to illegals — I'd have said no way.
Pramila Jayapal, executive director of Hate Free Zone Washington,
and one of the organizers of an afternoon press conference, told me by phone that "illegals" is "racially charged language."

"It has no place in a candidate's campaign, any candidate. The language is fundamentally dehumanizing to an enormous number of people that are working and contributing to the economy. This kind of language detracts from our ability to have a real conversation about this issue."
I asked Jayapal, given that the ad is only 30 seconds long and that she disagrees with McGavick's position, not just his language, if there was a way to describe illegal immigrants that she would find more acceptable. Surprisingly, she pointed to another McGavick ad, this one on radio. That ad says:

Senator Cantwell voted to allow Social Security benefits to be earned by those who entered our country illegally. I say no way.
Said Jayapal:

"Calling somebody an illegal is fundamentally framing the conversation in a way that doesn't allow us to talk about the system that is broken. People aren't calling Rep. Foley an illegal, or Bush an illegal, or any people we think may have committed an illegal act or has committed an illegal act."
McGavick was unconcerned and called the press conference "just typical nonsense."

"The word illegal is accurate. And there are people from all around the world that fit that bill in this country."
The Seattle Times policy is to not use "illegals" as a noun. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has said it is troubled by what it says is a growing trend in the media of using "illegals" to describe people who have entered the country illegally.

Using the word in this way is grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed.

The NAHJ also opposes the use of the phrase "illegal aliens."