Immigrant advocates are incensed that a number of retailers have decided to sell cartoonish“illegal alien” costumes in their stores this Halloween.
Joshua Hoyt of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights even urged a boycott of stores, according to the Chicago Tribune:
“When a corporation dehumanizes immigrants, the best thing is to stop buying from it,” he said.
Target, Toys R Us, Amazon, and Meijer are among those that advertised the orange, Guantanamo-bay styled jumpsuits, complete with an alien mask and a “green card.” The United Farm Workers asked its constituents to take action on their Web site, stating:
These costumes perpetuate racism and discrimination in an already hostile environment and during a period of time when the debate on immigration reform is increasingly hateful and divisive.
Target immediately removed the costume from its Web site when they received complaints from various groups, apologizing for having included it in their assortment:
Target said the “Illegal Alien” costume was inadvertently uploaded to its Web site due to a data entry error. “It is never our intent to offend the consumers with the products we offer,” a company statement said.