Phony Hot Line Urges Callers to Turn In Illegal Aliens

Police say they are investigating a bogus telephone hot line that offers “bonus points” to people who turn in illegal immigrants.

The hot line has sparked the ire of Latino community leaders and prompted Mexican consulate officials in Southern California to request an FBI investigation.

Authorities and Latino activists said Tuesday that they did not know who is operating the hot line, how the Anaheim number is being disseminated, how many calls have been received or what the operator is doing with the information.

The telephone recording, which labels itself a “public service announcement,” refers to illegal immigrants with a derogatory term and encourages people to help “authorities” capture them.

“You get points for giving us names and where these wetbacks can be found. If you give us the name of the company where they work, you can earn extra points,” the male voice states in the Spanish-language telephone message.

Bonus points can be earned for every person captured, the recording says.

“Have you fought with your aunt? Does she live in this country illegally? You can be rid of her with just one call,” the recording says.

The message does not say what the reward is, but it asks callers to “register” as informants by leaving their names, addresses and phone numbers.

“It’s very offensive to the Hispanic community,” said Jose Vargas, Hispanic affairs officer for the Santa Ana Police Department.

Said Msgr. Jaime Soto, vicar for the Hispanic community of the Catholic Diocese of Orange: “I find the whole tenor of it repulsive. . . . Even if it’s a joke, it’s a very bad joke.”

Soto said he and other community leaders will discuss the hot line further at a news conference this morning.

A spokesman for the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles said the Immigration and Naturalization Service also would be contacted about the recording because it implies that the sponsors are collaborating with “authorities.”

“We are outraged because of the way it is presented,” consulate spokesman Martin Torres said.

An INS spokesman said the agency was not aware of the hot line and labeled it “a scam.”

“Even if they (hot line sponsors) are passing the information on, we would not know it. We would not know where it came from,” Ron Rogers of the agency said, explaining that INS informants usually are anonymous.

Although the hot line’s operator has not been identified, Mexican Consul Felipe Soria suspected that it is a “racist organization that is insisting that the Latino community discriminate against those who are illegal. This must be investigated.”

Officials were alerted to the hot line by Fernando Velo, the editor of Azteca News, a Spanish-language newspaper in Santa Ana.

The Anaheim telephone number is listed in cross-reference directories under two businesses, neither of which has been issued a business license in that city.

Officials for the businesses could not be reached and a Pacific Bell official said the telephone number is not published in the company’s latest listings.

A spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department said there was no investigation there of the hot line.

But in Santa Ana, police will explore whether the telephone message falls under “hate crimes” or other similar laws, department spokesman Sgt. Art Echternacht said.

Santa Ana officials thought initially that the telephone recording did not violate criminal laws because it is merely seeking informants, making it somewhat similar to hot lines set up by the Adam Walsh Foundation, which seeks information on missing children.

However, by late Tuesday, police decided to investigate it.

Pacific Bell spokeswoman Linda Bonniksen said the telephone company cannot disclose who has the telephone number, nor can it control how customers use their telephone service.

Michael Runzler, another telephone company spokesman, said that this is similar to a Nazi “hate line” discovered in Orange County several years ago.

“As revolting as these messages might be,” Runzler said, “we are not in a position to police them.”