Report Cites an Atmosphere of Anti-Immigrant Hatred in Suffolk County

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: NYT

An environment of racial intolerance and anti-immigrant hatred, fostered by groups and some public officials opposed to illegal immigration, has helped fuel dozens of attacks on Latino immigrants in Suffolk County during the past decade, says a report issued Wednesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate groups around the country.

“Latino immigrants in Suffolk County live in fear,” the report said. “Political leaders in the county have done little to discourage the hatred, and some have actively fanned the flames.”

The law center, which came to prominence in the 1970s for its legal battles against the Ku Klux Klan, started looking into what it called “the anti-immigrant climate” in Suffolk County after Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, was stabbed to death last November in Patchogue. Seven youths, who prosecutors say were driven by prejudice against Latinos, are awaiting trial in that case.

The center’s report is the product of months of investigation on Long Island, including scores of interviews with Latino immigrants and local civic leaders. While it draws heavily on news media accounts and public records, center officials said the report was the most comprehensive compilation of statements and events showing a pattern of hate crimes in Suffolk County that were at least tacitly condoned — if not actively encouraged — by some local leaders.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/nyregion/03suffolk.html