A teenager from North Carolina has just won a year-long legal fight for using the term “illegal alien” in his high school classroom.
BREAKING: Christian McGhee, the North Carolina teen who was suspended from school for using the term “illegal alien” in class, will receive $20,000 and a public apology from the Davidson County Board of Education (@dcsnc) after they falsely accused him of “racial bias.” https://t.co/J4AoRY1plt pic.twitter.com/Fb1PFiJpPU
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 4, 2025
Back in April 2024, 16-year-old Christian McGhee was sitting in his English class at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina.
When his teacher used the word “aliens,” Christian raised his hand and asked, “Are we talking about space aliens, or illegal aliens who need green cards?”
His school called his words “offensive and disrespectful” towards his Hispanic classmates, claimed he disrupted the class, and suspended him for three days.
On top of that, they slapped his record with a note about “racial bias.”
Christian’s family believed he had done nothing wrong and that the school had crossed the line.
With help from the Liberty Justice Center, they filed a federal lawsuit against the Davidson County Board of Education.
They argued that Christian’s First Amendment rights had been violated. He wasn’t using a slur or being hateful. He asked a serious question using a legal term.
“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.” Christian said.
On June 3, 2025, that lawsuit came to a close. Christian received $20,000 from the school board, the “racial bias” mark was removed from his record, and the Board issued a public apology.
The apology didn’t fully admit wrongdoing, but it acknowledged the school had mischaracterized Christian’s intent.
The Board still says the punishment was about classroom disruption. What really happened was a student used the wrong words, in the eyes of the administration, and got punished for it.
This case highlights something bigger than just one student.
It’s about being able to tell the difference between real hate and an honest question.
It’s about making sure schools, especially public schools, aren’t scaring students into silence.
Nobody is saying schools shouldn’t stop bullying or protect students from harassment. But there’s a big difference between being mean and being misunderstood.
Christian was trying to take part in the discussion. Instead, he got labeled as hateful. That’s not right.
If students are afraid to speak up in class, especially about issues like immigration, then we’ve lost something important.
Schools should be places where young people learn how to think, ask questions, and speak freely—even if those questions make others uncomfortable.
America is divided on a lot of issues, and immigration is one of them.
But pretending certain words don’t exist, or punishing people for saying them, doesn’t solve anything.
It just shuts down the conversation.
Christian’s record is clean now. He’s been given some justice, and his family hopes other students won’t face what he did.
But the fight for free speech in schools isn’t over.
It’s up to parents, teachers, and communities to make sure students can ask honest questions without fear.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
