Vargas has pressured a number of journalists and news organizations to abandon the term “illegal immigrant” since coming out as undocumented in a 2011 piece for NY Times Magazine. “Throughout a Noticias Telemundo Fb question-and-answer session, the previous secretary of state was asked by immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas if she would commit to his “#wordsmatter” pledge.
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“When Hillary Clinton thinks Latinos are not around she will brag about voting for a border fence and even use the term ‘illegal immigrant, ‘ yet in front of Latinos she criticizes such efforts and laments her previous words”, Guerra said in a statement. Online publication Colorlines founded the “Drop the I-Word” campaign in 2010.
“I want Democrats to vote for me, but I want sensible Republicans to vote for me, too”, Clinton said.
DREAMers take their name from the acronym for legislation that lays out a process toward citizenship for immigrant children who were brought into the country illegally and grew up in the United States.
“She and Bill were both government servants all of their life, and there was a set period of time when they could make money”, said venture capitalist Alan Patricof, a longtime Clinton fundraiser, of the Clintons’ paid speechmaking.
During a stop in New Hampshire earlier this month, the Democratic presidential candidate referred to immigrants that way while discussing her support for a barrier along the Mexican border as a NY senator.
“If you’re in law enforcement, … you want the people in the communities that you are looking to get information from to feel like they want to help you”, Clinton said.
Advocates say the term “illegal immigrants” is offensive because it implies that the individual instead of the act is illegal. “There is no room to uplift a community when the conversation begins by taking away their identity”.
The video shows headlines about the former secretary of state’s email scandal, magazines covers addressing the Clinton’s Whitewater controversy and footage of the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya burning during the 2012 attack.
But, in a Democratic primary campaign where Clinton has tried to present herself as even more progressive on immigration than President Obama with promises that she would expand executive actions for immigrants in the country, the phrase “illegal immigrant” has become a lightning rod.
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Clinton agreed to stop saying “illegal immigrants” and pointed to her support for immigration reform.
