An ‘illegal alien’ Halloween costume has caused a huge uproar says an anti-illegal immigration group. The costume was sold out in all online stores. However, it is still unclear whether the costume actually sold out or public pressure to stop selling the costume worked.

As news spread that several online stores sell an ‘illegal alien’ costume which consisted of an orange prison jumpsuit with the words ‘illegal alien’ stamped across it, the incident clearly outraged immigrant and Latino advocacy groups. A small cardboard card marked ‘green card’ accompanied the jumpsuit.

In a press release on October 19, 2009, ALIPAC or Americans for Legal Immigration PAC stated that the controversial illegal alien Halloween costume on Target as the “Most Popular Costume of Halloween 2009″, sold out in all online stores after the group called for supporters to make it pulled off shelves

However, the item can still be purchased off an ‘external website’ according to an Amazon listing. The item is marked ‘Alien Adult Costume’ and matches the description of the ‘illegal alien’ outfit. Interestingly, the “Illegal Alien Costume’ is now listed as ‘currently unavailable if searched online, but it is still not clear if the costume was sold out or pulled out from the Amazon catalogue.

Chain store Target also came under pressure for selling the costume on its website, and after agreeing to pull it out told the press that they had ‘inadvertently uploaded’ the costume to its website due to a ‘data entry error’.

In a press release, ALIPAC President William Gheen said he purchased one of the costumes and would in fact wear it to a TV interview “if invited.” He said, “Do you think there is really anything the matter with that? It is a joke! Where is your sense of humor, America?”

Immigration activists however disagreed and Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles told the NBC affiliate in San Francisco that it was “distasteful, mean-spirited, and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform”.

Pro-Illegal immigration activist Isabel Garcia, accidentally gave differing accounts of a controversial event, highlighting her lack of consistency on the issue. Garcia is from Tucson, Arizona, where she is battling against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and has been public about her opinion of his tough laws on illegal immigrants.

During an interview with CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien, Garcia gave a version of what happened during a protest in 2008. The video of the protest shows a group of young people beating a pinata that designed to look like the sheriff. The video captured a happy Garcia walking around the protest with the head raised above her head. She states she was carrying the decapitated head because she simply picked it up, trying to defuse the violent situation.

In an interview just a couple of hours later, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, brought Garcia and Arpaio onto the show to discuss the tensions in Arizona. She defends the kids who beat-up and decapitated the head, saying Arpaio treats the illegals like they are piñatas. Garcia claims the incident was a form of legit and symbolic speech. A blog written shortly after the incident in 2008, had stated Garcia thought the piñata incident was funny.

After the piñata event, Garcia received hate mail and death threats. She is a public official and her office received phone calls and letters demanding her dismissal after her participation in the protest. Her lack of consistency in recalling the event does not help her cause.

A study conducted in Virginia by the federation for American immigration, has found that illegal immigration within the state costs its taxpaying households at least $625 a year. The state expects an increase in the years to come with the expected rise in the illegal immigrant population. Virginia’s illegal migrant population has grown by over 300% since 2000, with the year on year increase growing every year.

These costs, calculated from the $1.7 billion that it takes every year to pay for the education, imprisonment and medical costs of illegal immigrants. Even after weighing in with new revenue streams brought to the state’s economy with the increase in the alien population, the cost still tops out at a massive $1.5 billion.

Adding to the costs of education is the increase in public school enrollment of about 175% that requires English language assistance. This requires more teachers that can speak both English and the native language of the migrants (usually Spanish). The native population of Virginia has grown only 6.5%, with the foreign population rising by as much as 46.5% since the year 2000.
The situation could worsen itself as the global financial crisis, and the high unemployment rate, starts creating massive shortfalls within the states budgets. With a recovery, still years away, and no relief to in sight, even as the economy begins to grow, drastic action may be ahead for Virginia’s illegals.

LawFirms.com has launched an ad campaign that amounts to a PR disaster in any other industry. The ad campaign features a fictional iPhone app that will allow illegal immigrants to navigate through the deserts, using GPS to evade border patrols. This app would be ideal for any potential illegal immigrant looking to invade the United States of America. However, such an app does not exist. Instead the goal of the ad campaign seems to be to drive traffic to LawFirms.com so that they can find a lawyer who will help them to get across the border legally.

If not finding a lawyer, users can take the ads advice and get an “iWife”, because the app “will take care of finding marriage prospects for you. Aggregating and analyzing data from a variety of online sources match you up with only the most promising US Citizen candidates.” The ad also seems to do a good job of offending both sides of the illegal immigrant issue. One, encouraging illegal immigrants to evade border patrols and use high tech tools to cross the border without much hassle, and the other poking fun at the hundreds of illegal immigrants who die trying to cross the US border. The ad also includes a disclaimer that states: “any potential political views conveyed on this page do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of LawFirms.com or Experthub, Inc, but rather, the tasteless sense of humor of two employees that are likely to be fired.”