Florida lawmaker wants to limit 'Latinx,' saying it's part of Biden's 'woke crusade'

April 26 (UPI) -- A Florida lawmaker wants to pass legislation that would prohibit the term "Latinx" from being used on public executive branch documents.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Tuesday introduced the Reject Latinx Act, joined by Republicans from West Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, and Utah.

Rep. Byron Donalds and Rep. Carlos Giménez, two of Salazar's colleagues from Florida, also joined her.

Salazar called the term a "woke invention of the neo-Marxist left" and said "many find the term extremely offensive and patronizing."

The 61-year-old first-term congresswoman from Miami said the term is rejected by the majority of the Latin-American community and being forced on the public by President Joe Biden.

"The Biden administration is waging a woke crusade on Latino identity and the Spanish language," Salazar said in a statement Wednesday.

"We cannot allow the Biden administration to use White House communications to attack our language and impose progressive ideology on our people."

Salazar said the bill is only intended to prohibit the term's use in official government documents, and not a limit on free speech.

"For example, the bill will prohibit the use of the term from the census or a white house press release," Salazar said in a statement, citing a 2021 Gallup poll that found 4% of Latin-Americans used the term.

"What the bill will not prohibit is its use by the legislative branch such as in a future bill, the judicial branch such as in a ruling or by the president in a speech or an agency official in their email signature."