Talks May Bring an End to Fake Illegal-Alien ‘Hot Line’

An Anaheim businessman and the head of Spanish-language television station KVEA in Glendale agreed Friday to meet early next week in an effort to settle a dispute and end a phony “Turn In an Illegal Alien” hot line that the businessman said he set up to take revenge on the station.

Businessman Bruce Derflinger said he also planned to meet with local Latino leaders who were angered this week when they learned that an anonymous Spanish-language hot line was offering rewards to those who turn in undocumented residents. The taped telephone message also used a derogatory term for illegal immigrants.

Derflinger said the hot line--a telephone number for one of his former businesses in the 714 area code--was not racially motivated but was an attempt to create a backlash against the station, which used the same number in the 213 and 818 area codes to run a contest. TV viewers in Orange County jammed Derflinger’s line, he said.

Because of the station’s refusal to change its number or address his concerns, Derflinger said, his customers were unable to reach him and he eventually went out of business in early 1990.

Channel 52 General Manager Augustine Martinez said he would consider changing his station’s contest telephone number if it would persuade Derflinger to remove the tape-recorded message, which Latino leaders consider hateful and divisive.

“I am making an effort to get the message removed,” Martinez said. “If there’s a problem between this guy and the station, it’s in my interest to get this resolved quickly.”

Although the dispute has been ongoing for almost four years, Martinez said that he took over the station a few weeks ago and was unaware of it.

Derflinger, who noted that his hot line has received an average of 1,000 calls per month since its inception in early 1990, said he was “excited” that the disagreement may be nearing an end.

“That’s all I wanted,” he said.

Derflinger said if he and station officials could not negotiate an end to the battle over the telephone number, then he would accept an offer from Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, to broker a compromise.

And if Latino leaders are unsuccessful, Derflinger said, then he would consider changing the message to delete any offensive language but turn the line into a “legitimate” hot line to report illegal immigrants.

He said that in a 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday, following news reports of the line’s existence, he received 250 telephone calls--most containing profanity and threats against him.

But, he said, there were also calls expressing support.

Santa Ana police officials, who reported earlier in the week that they would investigate the hot line, were unavailable for comment on Friday.