OXNARD : Head of Rights Group Alleges Hate Crime

Armando Garcia, the chairman of an immigrant advocacy group called the Coalition for Immigrant Rights, reported that he was beaten and choked at his Oxnard office on Saturday after asking a man to pay for an employment form.

On Sunday his organization issued a press release calling Garcia’s beating a hate crime, but Oxnard Police Department officials disagreed Monday, saying there is no evidence that the attack was racially motivated.

“I’ve talked to the officers, read the report, and I can’t see anything that would indicate that this is a hate crime,” Assistant Police Chief Jim Latimer said. “It’s all a mystery to me.”

Officials from the Coalition for Immigrant Rights said Garcia, who has recently given a series of talks supporting more liberal immigration laws, has received increasingly threatening phone calls and letters.

On Saturday, Garcia said he received a call from a man who needed a form to hire foreign nationals to work at his company. When the man arrived, he asked specifically for Garcia.

Garcia told police that, after some confusion about what he wanted, the man was asked to pay for the form. He immediately yelled abuse at Garcia, denigrating his Mexican heritage, according to a police report. When Garcia asked the man to leave, he was attacked, witnesses said.

When police arrived, they said, there was no mention that any racial comments were made during the attack.

“Simply cursing and using a racial epithet does not make it a hate crime,” Latimer said.

Latimer also said Garcia explicitly told officers he did not want to file charges against his assailant, telling police he was instead considering a lawsuit against the attacker.

On Sunday, however, Garcia’s group issued a press release saying the attack was racially motivated and that Oxnard police were not taking the case seriously.

“Armando has been outspoken for some time,” said Fred Pierce, spokesman for Garcia. “It’s seems unlikely that Armando just ran into this white guy who was having a bad day. I don’t think it was a coincidence, and the police could at least conduct an investigation.”