Colorado lawmaker wants to remove term “illegal alien” from state law

The terms used to describe immigrants who are living in the United States without documentation have been heavily debated for years, and a Colorado lawmaker wants the state to use a phrase that carries more dignity and respect for the people it describes.

Colorado House Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver, plans to introduce a bill in 2020 that would remove the phrase “illegal alien” from the one place it’s used in state statutes — a 2006 law that references public contracts and prohibits immigrants without legal residency from being hired for those jobs.

“I think words matter and we shouldn’t be calling people illegal aliens,” Lontine said. “People aren’t illegal.”

The bill is minor and won’t affect anything but the wording in that statute, Lontine said, but she represents a district with a high Latino population. The issue came to her attention when a friend of hers attended a training on independent contracts at the city and county of Denver and the term was used. She approached human resources to find out why and was directed to the state law.

“It doesn’t matter what your legal status is — as long as you are present in the country, you do have some constitutional protections,” Lontine said. “Our constitution is for everybody, not just citizens.”

She called it a matter of treating people with dignity and respect. The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition agreed.

“Any move away from dehumanizing language targeting our community members in Colorado is always welcome. We continue needing real protections for our community and changing this word in the law is a good first step,” wrote spokesman Cristian Solano-Córdova in a statement.