Teen Suspended For Saying "Illegal Alien" During English Assignment

Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina suspended a 16-year-old student for three days last week after he used the term ‘illegal alien’ during a vocabulary assignment in his English class.

The Carolina Journal reports Christian McGhee was assigned vocabulary words during class last Tuesday, including the word “alien.” McGhee inquired about the word, asking “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

An email detailing the incident, which was sent to local officials and shared with the outlet, explained that a young man in the class took offense to his question. Then reportedly threatened to fight him, prompting the teacher to call in the assistant principal.

Administrative staff ultimately deemed his words offensive and disrespectful to Hispanic classmates.

“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” McGhee said following his suspension. “I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries needs green cards, and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.”

On top of the three-day suspension, McGhee’s mother is concerned that her son’s record could be tarnished, which could affect his pursuit of an athletic scholarship for college.

In an email, the mother wrote, “Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for ‘racism.’”

“He is devastated and concerned that the racism label on his school record will harm his future goal of receiving a track scholarship. We are concerned that he will fall behind in his classes due to being absent for three consecutive days,” she added.

Newsweek contacted members of the high school’s staff via email on Tuesday for comment. However, a staff member responded, stating that they cannot discuss a specific student or their actions due to federal student privacy protections.

“Please know that Davidson County Schools administrators take all discipline incidents seriously and investigate each one thoroughly,” the staff member’s message to Newsweek read. “Any violation of the code of conduct is handled appropriately by administrators.”