Alien Hot Line Is Part of Feud, Originator Says

A former head of the Orange County chapter of the Jewish Defense League acknowledged Wednesday that he set up a bogus “Turn In an Illegal Alien” telephone line that has angered Latino activists.

But Bruce Derflinger, who said he once received an award from the American Civil Liberties Union for his work on minority-rights issues, denied that his actions were racially motivated.

Derflinger said the hot line was his bid to get back at a Spanish-language TV station in Glendale that operates a telephone contest line with a number almost identical to his.

Callers trying to reach the station’s line, in area code 818, instead jammed Derflinger’s 714 number in Orange County, he said.

The station refused to change its number, which he contended led to the failure of his advertising business because his customers could not get through.

The hot line message “was designed to be as insulting as possible so that people would call Channel 52 (KVEA) and complain to them,” Derflinger said in an interview.

The Spanish-language telephone message refers to illegal immigrants with a derogatory term, encourages people to help “authorities” capture undocumented residents and offers “bonus points” for each family member turned in.

“You gain bonus points when you give us the names and where these wetbacks can be found,” the message states. “If you give us the name of the company where they work, you can earn extra points.”

During a press conference earlier Wednesday, 10 representatives of Latino and human rights organizations had gathered at the Mexican Consulate in Santa Ana to denounce the recording, which several said showed “bigotry and a racist attitude.”

The group also renewed calls for local, state and federal investigations into the hot line.

Mexican Consul Felipe Soria said his government was using diplomatic channels in Washington to ask for an FBI investigation.

The source of the tape had not been discovered when the press conference was held.

Told late Wednesday that Derflinger was operating the hot line, one of the people who had been at the press briefing, Father Joseph Justice of St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church in Santa Ana, said: “I think it makes it even more tragic that someone who has been defending other people’s rights seeks to do something that causes division and hatred.

“I think when we set out to get revenge, we end up doing more damage than we could ever imagine,” Justice said. “I think involving all kinds of people who are innocently involved in this is not a legitimate thing to do.”

At least, the priest added, the hot line is not the work of an organized group.

Santa Ana police began an investigation when notified Tuesday by Latino leaders. But telephone company officials and some law enforcement authorities have suggested that private telephone hot lines cannot be censored.

The minority community advocates said they were especially appalled because the tape appeared to attempt to divide Latinos by having legal residents and citizens turn in people who are in the country illegally.

But Derflinger said after his role came to light: “It was not meant to be racial at all. . . . I have spent years working for minority issues and minority rights, but, hey, there’s only so much a person has to take,” referring to his dispute with the TV station.

The Anaheim businessman said his anger began building almost four years ago, when the station opened up the contest hot line.

Suddenly, he said, his business phone was ringing continually 16 hours a day. “It was four hours before I could get someone to speak enough English to tell me what was going on,” Derflinger said.

He estimated that in the first few months of the contest, he received 1,000 calls per week from would-be contestants.

In the meantime, he said, his own customers could not reach him.

At times, he added, callers would threaten him because they could not reach the contest line.

He appealed to the station to change its number or to specify that it could not be dialed in the 714 area code, but his complaints went unanswered, he said.

He added a second number for his business, but that did not work, Derflinger said.

“They basically ran me out of business,” he contended, adding that his company closed in early 1990.

Derflinger said a station official showed no sympathy and told him that the station had reserved use of the number in the 714 area code--as soon as Derflinger gives it up.

Instead of giving it up, Derflinger said, he placed the recorded message on the line when he went out of business.

“Why should I have to surrender so that these guys can walk all over me?” he asked. “You can tell by the organizations I am involved in that I am not a person who lays down for something. I fight.”

Derflinger said he sought the advice of several friends, including a former ACLU official, before asking a Spanish-speaking acquaintance to record the message early last year.

“Anybody can read anything they want into something, and I cannot control that,” he said. “But these people (illegal immigrants) are lawbreakers. We are saying, ‘Be a good citizen and turn in those who are breaking the law.’ ”

Derflinger said he hoped that the contestants would call his number, hear the recording, then complain to the station, forcing the station to back off.

But if that was the intent, station General Manager Augustin Martinez said, Derflinger was unsuccessful.

Martinez, who has been at the station for 18 months, said he was unaware of any complaints to the station about Derflinger’s hot line.

The first he heard of it, he said, was Wednesday, when news spread that the bogus contest line existed.

Martinez said he does not know of Derflinger’s problems with the station from before he became general manager.

“I would like for him to have that recording taken off as soon as possible,” Martinez said, adding that he would also like to talk with Derflinger.

Although he does not advertise the hot line, Derflinger said he still receives about 1,000 calls per month.

Derflinger said he used to have friends translate the calls left on his tape. He said he even called the Immigration and Naturalization Service twice to see whether officials were interested in his tips. But he said INS representatives brushed him off.

When told that the Latino community is angry about the hot line, Derflinger replied: “I think they are overreacting to it considerably. However, I hope it gets back to Channel 52.”