Prior to the 1920s there was no such thing as an illegal alien. Then it became a mis-demeanor, less serious than parking in a handicapped zone.
Tancredo’s HR4437 tried to change it from a mis-demeanor to a felony. HR4437 failed.
So technically an illegal alien is not a criminal.
Of course many use bogus IDs which might be a felony. And some (but not most) rape, rob, murder, etc. which is clearly a felony.
But to call a person a criminal who is only guilty of a mis-demeanor is clearly freedom of speech, even if not technically true.
For example I’ll here and now call CRIMINAL the 26 year old son of our IL Senate President. He has never been convicted of a crime. He even beat the multiple DUI raps prior to his current DUI rap. Never the less he is criminal and I’m exercising my free speech to call a misdemeanor violator a criminal. And if he sues me he will not win in court ... not even in IL courts where his daddy picks the judges.
It is a matter of free speech.
Actually, this case is about a criminal act. The plaintiff assaulted a photographer. The email the defendant is accused of sending (which he admits) was specific to that assault. So, this suit was based on a criminal act, committed by an illegal-alien while on American soil (San Diego).
A misdemeanor crime results in a criminal record, at least in most states.
I can't speak for all states, but here we have three classes of offense. Felony, misdemeanor, and civil infractions. The first two are criminal offenses, and the latter is obviously by its name, not. DUI here is usually a misdemeanor. Parking violations are civil.
“Then it became a mis-demeanor, less serious than parking in a handicapped zone.”
In Texas, if you have a certain number and certain types of mis-demeanor, you cannot be a police officer, security officer and several other jobs - so, you do end up with a “criminal” record, so technically, you are a criminal!