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Friday, October 16, 2009

Dallas Latino leaders upset with illegal alien Halloween costume sold at Target

by Rebecca Aguilar

Apparently, dressing up as an illegal alien for Halloween doesn't require a homemade costume anymore. This one goes for $39.99 on Target's website.

DALLAS — For just $39.99, you can now dress up as an "illegal alien" for Halloween. Target is selling the costume made up of an orange jumpsuit with the words "illegal alien" written across the chest. The costume even comes with a mask of a space invader with big eyes, and a green card.

It's not a funny matter to some leaders with LULAC, one of the largest Latino civil rights organizations in the country. Immediate National LULAC President Hector Flores says the costume is racist in nature. Flores adds, "The costume, while clearly depicting a supposed visitor from space, can generate images as portrayed a la Lou Dobbs, with his inflammatory pictures of people crawling over the fences on the southern border of the U.S., or anti-immigrant."

Target's website states the illegal alien costume is only being sold online. The costume won't be online very much longer, according to Target spokesman Joshua Thomas.

Thomas told us by phone Friday afternoon they were made aware of costume Thursday through calls to its customer relations office. Thomas adds, "We went into the process of pulling it from Target.com. It takes about 24 hours. The costume will be taken down either late Friday or early Saturday."

Flores says, "I think that Target may be stretching its marketing regardless of its racial and ethnic implications. I plan to refer this matter to our national LULAC office and general counsel for their advice."

Target's spokesman counters: "It was never our intent to offend any of our customers."

Thomas says he doesn't know if the company had any gatekeepers who could have prevented this costume from making its online site. He says, "As a company, we will try to learn something from this and apply it down the road. There are times when we make mistakes and will do what we can to correct it."

Staff
Verified User
Anonymous

Booo, LULAC is ruining my fun. This is obviously from the movie District 9. (stupid LULAC)

Jesus Valadez Verified

1 month ago
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*"The costume, while clearly depicting a supposed visitor from space, can generate images as portrayed a la Lou Dobbs, with his inflammatory pictures of people crawling over the fences on the southern border of the U.S., or anti-immigrant."*

This costume could also portray inmates from Mars. Not sure where you're going with this.

Clearly, illegals with extra-terrestrial faces are - without question - latino.

Scott Doyle Verified

1 month ago
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Yeah, check out my face. It's pretty alien.

Jesus Valadez Verified

1 month ago
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I am a proven equal-rights activist, I do NOT see anything wrong with this costume. The complaints are a bit much, reminds me of the "balloon boy" and his father this week on all the tv news shows,... they might have just wanted some publicity like what is going on here with this fun costume and some hispanic groups. It REALLY is not a slam towards any group. And by the way, illegal aliens can also be from Russia, Holland, Iceland, Canada,..etc., etc. not just Mexico and all would also be carrying a green-card no matter which country thay come from to the USA.

Russ Vandeveerdonk Verified

1 month ago
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A NEW WAVE LOOK FOR ALEINS FROM LA. TO MARS....A/T.Have fun in life,a hyper critical preformance only makes for bad vibes...

alexander troup Verified

1 month ago
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Maybe they're just jealous that the only "illegal immigrant" making the news nowadays is not Mexican at all

Is anybody else tired of LULAC attention whoring yet?

Jason Rice Verified

1 month ago
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Great Caesar's ghost!

Travis Bush Verified

1 month ago
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Frankly, I can't take LULAC seriously till they get an Embassy.

Jason Rice Verified

1 month ago
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Beat you to it, Jason!

Travis Bush Verified

1 month ago
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How about some sugar skull's from Mexico City.....crunchy.....or Day of the Dead profiles....A/T, ...Amigo's and Banditio's....Holloween

alexander troup Verified

1 month ago
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I've always been tired of LULAC whiting themselves around, Jason.

Anyways, back to work.

Jesus Valadez Verified

1 month ago
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whiting themselves around

LOL! Nice one.

See, it doesn't really hurt at all. LULAC - Quit yer cryin'!

jtmbls Anonymous

1 month ago
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I didn't mean it as a joke. :_( Damn typos.

Blame the iPhone.

Jesus Valadez Verified

1 month ago
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I don't think ANYONE is less of a fan of LULAC, than me, and i do think they're attention hos, too, and no one is more of a conservative, then me, but I DO THINK THIS COSTUME IS IN POOR TASTE. Whether you agree that illegal immigration is a problem(which i do), or not....Target buyers should've had the good sense to NOT take a chance with this kind of publicity and just pass on this particular costume. Regardless of WHAT movie this came out of....the costume doesn't offend me as a messcan, but this never should've hit the store shelves... just my opinion....

david torres Verified

1 month ago
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i meant Target CORPORATE buyers, when this idea/costume was presented, in the first place.

david torres Verified

1 month ago
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CNN quotes Target folks as stating the costume was "inadvertently uploaded" to its website because of a "data entry error."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/17/ille...

John Meyer Staff

1 month ago
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::whiting themselves around

I must point out that the loud whiney ones usually mistaken for us are actually Californians, an invasive species that thrives on indignant posturing, credit and litigation with no natural predators.

::.the costume doesn't offend me as a messcan

Dang! David, we will have to try harder. --- Hey wait a minute - those aren't messcan eyes!!

Jason Rice Verified

1 month ago
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Jason has a good point here, as I said early on the LA. tribes of Latinos are really moving away from the traditional Day Of The Dead events,

While this group, who have a right to complain are whiney, while it is a lady thing,..And we should not revert to the messcan's as low ridders, but..Hey they don't have Anglo style,.....Which is......Go with the flow of accepting....Punk rock humor....A/T, Folks and folklore lose the meaning of having fun...

alexander troup Verified

1 month ago
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::Blame the iPhone.

Ya know Jesus, I don't know if I'd rather have LULAC after me or Mac Addicts.

I'd definitely watch my step.

Jason Rice Verified

1 month ago
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Meh, I'm sure both groups want me dead by now.

Jesus Valadez Verified

1 month ago
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I saw some at the Halloween store today. Felt like buying one but I'm sticking to my original idea.

Jesus Valadez Verified

1 month ago
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tetsujin28 Anonymous

1 month ago
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why would LULAC assume that Mexicans are the only illegal aliens?? Anyone not born here is a potential "illegal".

bbryan44 Anonymous

1 month ago
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Cause LULAC are poopy heads.

Jesus Valadez Verified

1 month ago
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Seems to me that LULAC would have more of a point if the costuem were some kind of racist anti-Latino bash. It doesn't seem all that mean-spirited (and might even be said to mock the anti-immigration knuckle-draggers). It looks petty to be getting upset about this costume.

chriss Anonymous

3 weeks, 6 days ago
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Perhaps LULAC believes that all the illegal aliens in this country come from somewhere south of the border..That makes Asian school girls at Pavel's Happy Ending Massage Emporium giggle.

Travis Bush Verified

3 weeks, 6 days ago
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Well, maybe the only illegal aliens in America ARE Latin American.

I'm just sayin' that if LULAC says so, it MUST be true, right?

Jason Rice Verified

3 weeks, 5 days ago
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The Irish used to be the second-largest illegal group, but no one got too uspet about them. I know lots of Poles who get 3-month tourist visas and work illegally for the whole 3 months. I'm sure the same goes on in any immigrant community.