Student sues North Carolina school board after suspension for using term 'illegal aliens'

On Tuesday, the Liberty Justice Center announced that it had filed a lawsuit on behalf of Christian McGhee, the 16-year-old North Carolina student who was suspended after his use of the term "illegal alien" in a class vocab assignment was deemed "racist."

The suit contends that the Davidson County Board of Education had no legal justification to punish McGhee, arguing that its actions violated his first and fourteenth amendment rights.

"School officials have effectively fabricated a racial incident out of thin air and branded our client as a racist without even giving him an opportunity to appeal," LJC Education Freedom Attorney Dean McGee said in a statement.

According to the law firm, McGhee was "ostracized" upon returning from his three day suspension and was eventually unenrolled by his parents due to safety concerns and is now completing his studies at home.

The incident in question took place in early April at Davidson High School in Lexington. During English class, McGhee's teacher used the term "alien."

"Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?" McGhee replied.

One of his classmates allegedly claimed his comment was offensive to their Hispanic classmates, and threatened to fight him over it, at which point administrators got involved.

He was subsequently suspended, and prevented from competing in a track meet that the LJC later pointed out would have been "season-defining."

"I didn't make a statement directed towards anyone," McGhee later said. "I asked a question. 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."

During a recent school board meeting, a man who said his wife had, until recently, been an "illegal alien," pointed out that the term was used in official government documents.