A Halloween costume depicting an "illegal alien" from another planet in prison garb has immigrant advocates on this planet up in arms, leading one retailer that offered it to remove it from its site.
The costume (photo) features a non-human alien holding a green card and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with "Illegal Alien" emblazoned on it. (Which raises the question: If the alien has his green card, how can he be illegal?)
Immigrant rights activists have criticized the costume as insulting. A Southern California immigrant advocacy group, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), asked retailer Target Stores to remove the item from its online store. In an interview with NBC News Los Angeles, CHIRLA spokeswoman Angelica Salas called the costume "distasteful, mean-spirited and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform."
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation did remove the costume from Target.com, but it remains on sale at several other online retailers, including Amazon.com, Toysrus.com and Walgreens.com.
By Sandy Smith
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