- An author is criticizing an ICE social media post for its language about a 1948 plane crash.
- The post described 28 Mexican passengers who died in the crash as “illegal Mexican aliens.”
- The crash, which killed 32 people, was memorialized in a Woody Guthrie song protesting the passengers’ anonymity.
- Author Tim Z. Hernandez, who identified the victims, argues the term “erases people and distorts the public record.”
A California‑raised writer who has spent years documenting the 1948 Los Gatos plane crash is criticizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for its language in a Jan. 28 Facebook post marking the tragedy’s 78th anniversary.
ICE’s post honored Deportation Officer Frank E. Chaffin, who died along with 31 others when a government‑chartered Douglas plane crashed in Los Gatos Canyon. But it also described the 28 Mexican passengers as “illegal Mexican aliens.”
Tim Z. Hernandez — author of “All They Will Call You” and a central figure in identifying the long‑nameless victims — said the wording “erases people and distorts the public record.”…