Editor stands his ground on calling illegal aliens ‘illegals’: ‘People are sick and tired of lawlessness’

A California newspaper editor, whose company offices were vandalized after the paper used the word “illegals” in a headline to describe immigrants who have entered the United States illegally, stands by the headline and will continue to use the term in the future.

The Santa Barbara News-Press touched off a firestorm with a Jan. 3 front page headline reading, “Illegals line up for driver’s licenses.”

This prompted protesters to deface the newspaper’s offices with graffiti stating, “Fight back” and “The border is illegal not the people who cross it.”

A similar front-page headline appeared in the paper’s Jan, 16 edition, above an article written by Scott Steepleton, city editor of the News-Press.

He appeared on Fox and Friends Sunday to explain his decision to co-host Tucker Carlson.

He told Carlson that the paper has been using the word “illegals” for at least 10 years, although other publications have stopped using the term.

“We don’t believe in capitulating to people who are going to tell us how to run our newspaper,” Steepleton said. “We don’t ask people what we should write beforehand and we’re not going to ask people what we should write beforehand going forward.”

The Associated Press Stylebook substituted the term “undocumented immigrants” in place of “illegal aliens” several years ago, a move that’s been criticized as bowing to political correctness.

“We are a private business in the United States of America in the state of California and we are choosing to run ourselves the way we see fit,” Steepleton stated.

“I think the fact that people across the country have subscribed to our paper online, through NewsPress.com after this thing has erupted, shows that we are touching a nerve across this country, that people are sick and tired of a lawlessness everywhere in the United States.”

Watch the full interview above, via Fox News Insider.

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