'Illegal Immigrant Hunting Permit' Sticker Draws Anger in Colorado
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A convenience store in Colorado is in a sticky situation after an off-color bumper sticker sold in its store irked a number of customers.
The Cenex convenience store in Eaton, Colo. – about 60 miles north of Denver – sold the stickers resembling a state hunting permit and labeled “Illegal Immigrant Hunting License.” The decal is a green rectangular sticker with a yellow outline of the continental United States underneath an imprint of the “USA.”
Agfinity, a local farmer-owned co-op that owns that Cenex location, apologized for selling the bumper sticker and said that it has removed the offensive decals from its locations.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We at Agfinity deeply regret the concern this issue related to bumper stickers that had been for sale in our store has raised in our community,” a statement on the company’s website said. “ We have removed the bumper sticker display from our stores. As an organization, we do not condone offensive messages of this nature.”
CHS, which is the national owner of Cenex and supplies fuel to the stores, said that it was not the company’s decision to sell the bumper stickers but that it does not support the sale of them.
“We don’t own the store and its owners make the decisions about what they sell,” Lani Jordan, the director of corporate communications for CHS, told Fox News Latino. “With that said, we don’t support what they did as it’s not in keeping with our company standards.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A person at Central States Novelty, the Hays, Kansas-based company that produced the bumper stickers, said they had no comment on the uproar.
Users on Facebook and other social media sites lashed out at the decal, calling it racist and requesting its removal.
“I want to officially register a complaint about insensitive and blatant racism by the sales of signs at this location that read: “ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HUNTING SEASON.” This is offensive and should immediately be removed,” wrote a Facebook user identified as Luna Zamaya, according to the New York Daily News.