Group Seeks Gates’ Apology for Remarks : Police: Immigrant rights advocates are angered over the chief’s statement following death of policewoman in shooting by Salvadoran national.

A group of immigrant rights advocates demanded an apology from Police Chief Daryl F. Gates on Thursday for what they called racist remarks about a Salvadoran national who shot and killed Los Angeles Police Officer Tina Kerbrat.

In a bitter statement following Monday’s shooting of Kerbrat--a 34-year-old mother of two and the first Los Angeles policewoman murdered in the line of duty--Gates described her killer as “an El Salvadoran drunk--a drunk who doesn’t belong here.”

According to police, Jose Amaya, 32, was fatally wounded by Kerbrat’s partner about 12:30 a.m. Monday, seconds after he shot the officer in the face with a .357 magnum revolver. Relatives said Amaya, who was apparently preparing to leave the country this week, bought the gun to take with him to his homeland.

At a news conference in front of the Los Angeles Police Department’s downtown headquarters, Guillermo Rodezno of El Rescate Legal Services expressed outrage over the remarks he called “unfair, unjustified and unprofessional.”

“We want to ask Mr. Daryl for a public apology and we also would like him to agree to a meeting with us,” Rodezno said, “so he could learn and understand a little more about the situation facing Salvadorans in Los Angeles . . . and ease some of the tensions that exist right now.”

Gates was unavailable for comment but in a letter to The Times, Gates said, “My plea to the good Salvadoran people who live in Los Angeles is to understand that I do not hold them responsible for Officer Tina Kerbrat’s murder.

“The real issue is what can be done to reduce the likelihood that within the next few months another police officer will be fatally shot, point-blank, without reason, by a known violence-prone illegal immigrant whom our system has been unable to deport.”

Amaya had been arrested at a Border Patrol checkpoint last year but was released when it was learned that he was protected by recent changes in federal law that give Salvadorans safe haven in this country until 1992.

As for an editorial on Thursday in the nation’s largest Spanish-language daily newspaper, La Opinion, calling for Gates’ resignation, spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said, “They should save their ink. The problem is not Chief Gates. The problem is cop killers.”

Robin S. Toma, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said he found the Police Department’s position disturbing.

“Some have said that Gates was speaking emotionally, from the heart, when he berated the Salvadoran community,” Toma said. “I’m sure the same could be said when Chief Gates said that blacks, due to their anatomy, might be more likely to die when his officers put them in a chokehold; when he said casual drug users should be taken out and shot; when he said homosexuals are evil and they do evil.”

As Toma spoke, Ricardo Zlelada, a 56-year-old Salvadoran immigrant and sewing machine operator in Los Angeles’ garment district, nodded his head in silent agreement. In an interview later, Zlelada said he feared that Gates’ remarks could translate into harassment from rank and file officers.

“The police already treat us as though we are protesters, rebels, troublemakers,” Zlelada said. “We are not. We are hard-working people who came here in search of peace.”