Violence Against Immigrants Builds

NEW YORK -- As cities and towns across the country watched the immigrant rights marches last week, some saw a spike in violent attacks targeting immigrants. Plots to attack immigrants with grenades and semi-automatic weapons were uncovered, according to local and federal authorities. Immigrant advocates say a series of incidents and reports appear to indicate what they are calling a very dangerous trend that they believe is fueled by the anti-immigrant climate.

In addition to the well-reported incidents involving police violence against immigrants in Los Angeles, last week’s less publicized incidents and reports involving actual and potential violence against immigrants and their supporters included:
·
The arrest and indictment of six members of the Alabama Free Militia who, according to federal authorities, were allegedly preparing to attack Mexican immigrants near Birmingham, Ala. with grenades, semi-automatic weapons and 2,500 rounds of ammunition confiscated during a recent raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
·
Washington, D.C., area police arrested Tyler J. Froatz Jr., a 24 year-old man wielding a gun as he allegedly attacked marchers at a local immigration rally last Tuesday. U.S. Park police say Froatz had two knives, a hammer, a flare gun, a taser stun gun and pepper spray when they captured him. A subsequent police search of Froatz’s apartment yielded 15 guns, a Molotov cocktail, a grenade and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, according to authorities.
·
An early morning fire last Thursday at Casa de Maryland, a day-labor center near Gaithersburg, Md. was declared an arson incident by Montgomery County fire investigators. Representatives of Casa de Maryland, which received regular hate phone calls and emails prior to the incident, were reported in The Washington Post as calling the incident a hate crime and a “natural consequence to the ongoing debate over immigration.” County executive Isaiah Leggett called it “shameful and despicable.”

More