- Published: Wednesday, May 04, 2016 03:42 PM
CHICAGO – Today, Senator Martin Sandoval passed legislation out of the Senate that will remove the term ‘alien’ from Illinois statute when describing an undocumented person. This has become an issue for those living in Gage Park, a local Chicago neighborhood home to the third largest undocumented population in the State.
Senate Bill 3021 will change state statute to replace the word ‘alien’ with undocumented immigrant.
This issue was brought to Sandoval by the 9th grade students at Solorio Academy located in Gage Park. They started a campaign to rid the state’s vocabulary of the words ‘alien’ and ‘illegal alien’ as terms to describe undocumented immigrants. When they asked the senator to work on this is they felt this change was a matter of dignity to those living in the community.
The students were encouraged by California’s recent change in their law, and they are hoping the state of Illinois will follow in their footsteps.
Since 2013, surveys have shown that the media has shifted away from using the term ‘alien’ and instead have changed their tone to talk about those ‘without documentation’.
“These are humans, not martians. They’re from another country not another planet” said Sandoval. “I hope the House of Representatives and the Governor will support my community and the students of Solorio Academy in helping make this change in Illinois.”
This legislation passed with an overwhelming majority now goes to the House for their consideration.