Halloween Illegal Alien Costume Pulled From Retail Store

Minnesota Target store takes costume off Amazon web site

By H. Nelson Goodson
October 20,2009

Minneapolis, MN -Last Friday, the Minneapolis Target Corp. said it pulled a Halloween costume from their Amazon run retail store website, which was deemed offensive by customers, the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights from LA, CA who first raised the issue and other Latino Civil Rights groups. Target Corp. apologized after complaints began pouring in from customers and numerous Hispanic groups from California and Washington, D.C. for selling an "illegal alien" Halloween costume on its website. The $39.99 costume comes with a space alien mask, an orange jail suit with "illegal alien" stamped on the chest and a large "green card."
Target spokesman Joshua Thomas said an employee added the costume to its website by mistake and said it was removed over the weekend. Target has a strict review process with its vendors, he said. "We apologize. This was never intended to be part of our assortment. We moved quickly to remove it from our website."
Lizette Olmos, national communications director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the Washington-based organization has formally complain to Target.
"It's really disturbing," Olmos said. Besides the complaint about Target, the organization has received a number of others this year about costumes that she said are considered racist and degrading.
Hispanic organizations across the country are asking retailers to pull the costume off their shelves and websites, but the item is currently unavailable.