Maria Hinojosa Breaks Down Why Saying ‘Illegals’ Is Wrong On So Many Levels

*She called-out a Trump surrogate for using the “i” word. It was epic. VL

By Carolina Moreno, Huffington Post Latino Voices (2 minute read)

Journalist Maria Hinojosa knows that words matter, particularly when politicians and their advisors are discussing human beings.

During a Saturday morning appearance on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” the anchor and executive producer for NPR’s Latino USA  schooled Steve Cortes, a member of Trump’s National Hispanic Advisory Council, after he used the term “illegals” in a conversation about immigration reform.

Hinojosa first explained that “illegals” is “not a noun.” But when Cortes responded that he’d use it as an adjective instead by saying “illegal immigrant,” the Latina journalist told him that wasn’t a viable option either.

“What you can do is that you can say it is an immigrant living illegally or an immigrant living without papers or without documents in this country,” she told Cortes. “But what you cannot do is to label the person illegal.

Read more NewsTaco stories on Facebook. >> 

She then went on to invoke the memory of late Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel to break down why referring to a human being as “illegal” is so dangerous.

“The reason why I say this, is not  . . . READ MORE