May 8, 2009 1:39 AM
Marcelo Lucero was attacked last November 8 by a group of seven young men next to the train station in Patchogue on Long Island. His murder has become a symbol of the growing violence against immigrants that has taken the lives two immigrants from Cape Verde in Massachussetts, two Chilean students in Florida, a Mexican immigrant in Pennsylvania, and another Ecuadoran immigrant in New York City. Media coverage of his killing was extensive thoughout the United States, Latin America, and parts of Europe. Last week, Law & Order even presented a fictional account of his story.
Most Long Islanders were horrified to learn of this killing. Their discomfort was compounded when they found out that the same teens had attacked a dozen times before, and that nothing had been done to stop them. Failures by the police and politicians to learn about and correct the dangerous conditions that had been fostered by a rhetoric of hatred in Suffolk left most of us dumbfounded. And many of us resolved to change that situation.
Thousands of Long Islanders participated in Stop the Hate events and religious observances in both Nassau and Suffolk counties in the weeks after the killing. Scores showed up to speak at the Suffolk Legislature to call for an investigation into the events leading up to Lucero's death. Some politicians took up the challenge of reaching out to the Latino community. Notable were Paul Pontierri, mayor of Patchogue, who admitted he had not done enough to learn of the fear immigrant residents of his village lived with and set out to change that. Vivian Villoria Fisher and Rick Montano, along with Phil Ramos, continued their efforts on behalf of the community, and new legislator DuWayne Gregory stepped forward to provide new ideas.
Other members of Suffolk's political class saw the post-Lucero period as a time for business as usual. Police Commission Dormer, after trumpeting his "confidentiality policy" for immigrant crime victims, refused to release it to the Latino community except through the Freedom of Information Law process. We are still waiting to see that policy.
And Steve Levy, after proclaiming the brutal death of a man a "one day story", has continued to blame "the advocates" for the poor state of relations between county government and the Latino community.
So much has changed in Suffolk over the last six months, except at the top.
TAKE ACTION: Please go to the Long Island Immigrant Alliance Vigil Friday May 8, 2009, remembering Marcelo Lucero
The Long Island Immigrant Alliance is holding a vigil to mark the six month anniversary of the death of Ecuadoran immigrant Marcelo Lucero.
The vigil will be on Friday, May 8, 2009, at 7PM at the place where Marcelo Lucero was killed after being attacked by seven young men. The vigil will be at Railroad Ave. and Sephton St. in Patchogue, next to the railroad station. Luis Valenzuela of Long Island Immigrant Alliance is organizing the vigil. For more info, contact him or Ed Roldan at 631-789-0720.
I am a legal immigrant. I came to the US in 1995. I agree that the system is confusing, capricious and unfair. However, that is not sufficient reason to reward illegal aliens and give them a "path to citizenship". I am firmly against this, and tell Congress often. I am not afraid to tell them my story as a woman, as an immigrant.
Regarding Lucero situation. A death like this is sad and tragic. I am sorry that this happened to this man. However, sites like yours are untrue and hypocrites.
You refuse to talk about the whole immigration story, and talk about ALL the issues. You refuse to address issues like human trafficking, honor killings, child smuggling....all part and parcel of illegal alien trade. You stay silent because it doesn't support your narrative.
Tell the whole story. Be honest. Tell about the thousands of innocent Americans who were victims of brutal crimes of illegal aliens.
Their stories matter, too. Their lives were important, too.
Tell the whole story. Be honest for once. There is hatred in the illegal alien community too. This isn't one dimensional.
By Moon May 12, 2009 01:12 AM
Moon,
Thanks for commenting.
I can't speak for the website, but since you posted your claim of hypocricy on a page I put up, I assume you are talking to me. I identify myself throughout my posts as working for CARECEN, a pro-immigrant organization, so I'm not sure where my words and actions diverge, which as I recall is the definition of hypocricy.
I would like to address the points you make.
I am very concerned about border security and have written several times about the need to combine stronger border protections with legal channels for immigrants to come into this country. The situation we have now is like Prohibition. A need is being met illegally that could as easily be met legally. A better legal regime would undercut the large networks for people entering the U.S. illegally. Contrary to your implication, I do not support or ignore what you call "the illegal immigrant trade". But that "trade" is, in part, a product of the current U.S. immigration approach.
Second as you note on a page commemorating the brutal murder of a person because of his ethnicity, undocumented immigrants have killed people. I would further add that many undocumented immigrants have been killed by U.S. citizens in common crimes, DWI, etc. As I have pointed out elsewhere, immigrants commit crimes in about the same proportion as the native born do. I have never claimed that immigrants border on the angelic, nor that all immigrants are law abiding. There are criminals in every demographic group.
Websites that list every violent crime committed by immigrants remind me of newspapers in the U.S. when I was a boy that only identified the race of a murderer if the killer was non-White.
I have focused on the Lucero killing not because he was an immigrant, there have been other immigrants killed by U.S. citizens in the last year, but because the motive of his young attackers was to terrorize a community.
I have also pointed out a number of ways to address crime in immigrant communities, particularly through policing approaches used in New York City and in Nassau County which stress community/police trust and gain community cooperation in identifying violent criminals.
By Pat Young May 12, 2009 10:19 AM
The difference is this: had the illegals ('undocumented immigrants' as you say) obeyed the law and not come here in the first place, they would not have been in the position to be perpetrators killing Americans, or to rape American women, or to be victims of other crimes. Their original crime of invading the US began the chain to many other crimes, illegal immigration is a 'gateway crime'
Send them back, fix the law, and start over. Breaking the law in the first place cannot lead to a good resolution.
By zheng ye June 10, 2009 10:34 PM
There is no evidence whatsoever that Marcelo Lucero was a rapist or a murderer. He was a murder victim, not a perpetrator.
There is also no indication that his killers knew him or made any attempt to determine his immigration status.
Your attempt to justify the killing of this young man by a racist lynch mob says a lot more about your respect for law than it does about Marcelo's.
By Pat Young June 11, 2009 07:43 AM