The mother of a North Carolina high school student stated she had “no other choice” but to sue her son’s school board, which suspended him for asking about the term “illegal alien.”

Leah McGhee, the mother of a Central Davidson High School student, said her son’s English teacher assigned various vocabulary words in April, with one of them being “alien.” Her son had asked for clarification on the word, questioning whether it was referencing “space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards.” This prompted the school to suspend McGhee’s son for three days. McGhee has argued that the suspension caused her son to miss several important track meets, with the family choosing to remove their son from the school.