Hate Crimes Against Latinos on Rise, Study Finds

Hate crimes against Latinos, fueled in part by political rhetoric and largely unnoticed in the national media, have increased in the 1990s, according to a study released Monday by the National Council of La Raza.

The report, a compilation of data from federal and local hate crime surveys, details a litany of assaults and acts of harassment in every region of the United States, from such urban centers as Los Angeles and Seattle, to such communities as Lakeview, Ore., and Fond du Lac, Wis.

“The perception that Latinos are ‘foreign,’ ‘un-American’ or illegal immigrants has translated into numerous incidents of discrimination, threats and actual violence,” wrote the authors of the report, released at the NCLR’s annual convention in Houston.

Although FBI statistics show that Latinos tend to be victimized by hate crimes less than other ethnic groups, the study by the civil rights group found some disturbing patterns, especially in acts against Latino immigrants.

The report detailed numerous hate crimes against immigrants, ranging from the 1995 shooting of four migrant laborers near an egg farm in Livermore, Ore., to the racist flyers distributed at a school in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, in 1997.

“It was clear that most of the incidents that came across our desks involving Latinos were simply being ignored by the media and policymakers,” said Raul Yzaguirre, the NCLR president.

Beyond civilian vigilantism, police harassment and official abuse have become common in heartland and suburban communities that have seen a large influx in the number of Spanish-speaking immigrants, the report added.

Carmen Jorge, an analyst for the Washington-based civil rights group, said the study examined hate crimes and police abuse together because such incidents are both fueled by ethnic intolerance. “It’s basic, flat-out racism feeding it,” she said.

Among those present at a news conference announcing the report’s findings was Iris Baez, a New York City resident whose son, Anthony, 29, choked to death during a confrontation with police in 1994. Baez said she had received many letters from other parents whose sons have died in police custody.

“This is not an isolated incident,” said Baez, who has filed suit against the city. With a murmur, she added: “Too many victims.”

The INS and Border Patrol are singled out for criticism in the NCLR report, with the authors accusing federal agents of illegal raids that “undermine the physical safety and constitutional and civil rights of Latino communities.”

In Washington, INS officials said the agency “does not tolerate civil rights abuse and vigorously investigates all allegations brought to its attention.” A spokesman said the agency has increased “civil rights awareness” among its employees in recent years.

Raids targeting undocumented immigrants have often swept up citizens and other legal residents by mistake. In some cases, the group said, local police have taken it upon themselves to enforce immigration laws, with predictably disastrous results.

In 1997, police in Chandler, Ariz. rounded up 432 illegal immigrants as part of an urban renewal effort, but also detained several U.S. citizens and legal residents. Chandler officials agreed this year to pay $400,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit against the city.

The authors of the NCLR report blame the harassment and violence, in part, on the anti-illegal immigrant movement that reached a climax with the passage of Proposition 187 in California in 1994, which sought to deny public education and other services to illegal immigrants.

“The latest wave of anti-immigrant sentiment is characterized by blatant appeals to racism by politicians,” the report said.

Barbara Coe, a coauthor of Proposition 187, said she has heard such criticisms before. “If they chose to put out that kind of blatant lie, there’s nothing we can do.”

In 1993, the first year the FBI assembled national hate-crime statistics, there were 472 such assaults against Latinos. By 1996, the number had reached 564, an increase of about 20%.

Slightly more than one in 10 of all hate crimes reported to the FBI was categorized as “anti-Hispanic,” a figure about equal to the percentage of Latinos in the U.S. population as a whole.

In 1997, the last year for which national statistics are available, there were 491 “anti-Hispanic” hate-crime incidents, according to the FBI. By comparison, there were 3,170 attacks against blacks, 1,102 against homosexuals and 993 categorized as “anti-white.”

Many of the crimes listed in the NCLR report were not widely reported outside the communities where they occurred.

In Lakeview, a telephoned bomb threat in 1996 forced the evacuation of a woodworking factory--the caller said there were “too many Mexicans” working there. In Fond du Lac, three “skinheads” were sentenced to three months in jail in 1997 for beating a Latino youth and a black woman.

Tobar reported from Los Angeles and Kolker from Houston.