Same attitude as heard on Brownwood Talk Radio ?

Anti-Immigration Groups Head to Interior

"The same sort of dogmatism that racists used against blacks in lower Alabama and across the South, I am seeing the same patterns here," said Thom Robinson, who heads the area's Chamber of Commerce. "They are using it as a racially divisive thing."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050717/ap_on_re_us/anti_immigration_minutemen
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Anti-Hispanic backlash stuns city

By Dan Sewell
Associated Press
HAMILTON - The neighborhood's streets are nearly deserted this pleasant summer day. No laughing children on bikes, no friends gathering in front yards to catch up on each other's lives.
Outside the office of the Living Water Ministry, which two months ago drew hundreds of people to its first Cinco de Mayo festival that celebrated this city's booming Hispanic population, there is still a smell of charred wood from the June 21 fire that gutted the house next door and caused damage to the outside of the ministry's office.
The fire damage, and the spray-painted, misspelled "Rapest" on the burned house, are grim reminders of the day normal life was transformed in the blue collar Fourth Ward neighborhood near the city's downtown.
"Before, the street would be covered with people, people out all over the place," said Sasha Amen, community outreach coordinator for Living Water. "There's a lot of fear now. People are shutting themselves in their homes."
Hamilton has been a hotbed for Hispanic growth in a state that has lagged behind much of the nation in Hispanic population. The city's Hispanic population jumped fivefold in the 1990s, to 1,566, and is now estimated at 4,000 or more in a city of some 61,000 residents.
For the most part, the immigrants had settled in without much controversy in a city whose mayor in the 1990s was of Cuban descent. They worked plentiful construction and service jobs, and restaurants and supermarkets catering to Hispanic tastes began popping up. But simmering resentment of the Spanish-speaking newcomers among some residents was ignited June 19 when a 9-year-old white girl was raped, allegedly by a Hispanic man who has apparently fled the city.
The next day, the house where the man was staying was spray-painted by angry residents and the next evening, the home went up in flames in a suspected arson. Angry confrontations, name-calling and threats against Hispanics followed; men roamed the streets wearing pillowcases with eye holes, and then Ku Klux Klansmen in hoods and robes showed up passing out pamphlets this month. Rumors of assaults and beatings have spread.
"Yes, there is fear," said Ramona Ramirez, who owns a corner deli-supermarket where she says business is off and her bread delivery man is now afraid to come. "They are attacking all the Hispanics, and it is only one person. We don't know what will happen."
The Mexican-born Ramirez, who says she moved to Hamilton with her husband more than a decade ago from Los Angeles and loved it because of better jobs, lower rents and "fewer crazy people," worries now about their seven children, ages 3-16. Lupe Galvan, another Mexican-born woman who has been here five years, adds that some neighbors are talking about moving away.
While the anti-Hispanic backlash has stunned many of the immigrants, some say they've felt racial prejudice here before. Rev. Eustaquio Recalde, a native of Paraguay, says he was often harassed and ridiculed while working a factory job as the lone Hispanic employee.
"I think it's been around," Recalde said. "This was an opportunity for a few people to express it."
City and community leaders are trying to heal the wounds and promote dialogue. Police have beefed up patrols and social services workers are trying to work to calm the community, Mayor Don Ryan said Friday.
Ryan said authorities are stressing that the crime was not racially motivated, that it was "strictly a random act of violence." He said the city won't allow the anti-Hispanic emotions of some who see it differently to disrupt efforts to keep the peace.
Ryan noted that in its past, Hamilton grew with influxes of German, Irish and Italian immigrants.
"We're continuing to be a melting pot in this country," he said. "Assimilating into our culture is tough. I firmly believe that it will take time."
Ezra Escudero, executive director of the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs in Columbus, says that language barriers and culture shock have been linked to scattered incidents in other parts of the state, whose Hispanic population has doubled to nearly 280,000 since 1990.
"Hamilton is not alone," he said. "The challenge for the community is whether the tragedy will bring out the best or the worst in people."
Shelly Jarrett Bromberg, an assistant professor of Spanish and Latin American studies at Miami University's branch campus in Hamilton, has helped organize two community forums since the fire. She called the Hamilton unrest an important moment for local Hispanics, churches, police and public officials.
"I think everyone realizes that we need to have a dialogue ... to make the community feel safe and feel that they have a voice. I think there are a lot of people who want to make this work out."
source: http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050718/NEWS01/507180375
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How much air-time has KXYL used to discuss OTM's (Other than Mexicans) entering our country illegally via our pourous borders ? 1 % ?

OTMs spell trouble for Border Patrol
Web Posted: 06/25/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Hernán Rozemberg and Macarena Hernández
Express-News Staff Writers
McALLEN — They've pumped more equipment and manpower to the border. They've built more immigrant detention centers. Now they're even giving agents judge-like powers to speed deportations.
All for naught, say demoralized Border Patrol agents who are ready to quit.
So-called "OTMs," Border Patrol-speak for the bureaucratic term Other Than Mexicans, have become agents' worst nightmare in the past year.
Their growing numbers, a lack of detention space and an increasingly exploited immigration law loophole force agents to release them soon after catching them.
Undocumented Brazilians are crossing into South Texas in large numbers, and for the first time, more OTMs are being detained in the Rio Grande Valley are than undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
Agents say it has highlighted a broader problem: the Border Patrol's shift in strategy since 9-11 has rendered its traditional migrant-deterrence mission useless.
"We're selling ourselves like prostitutes," said an agent in the Rio Grande Valley sector, one of several who only would comment anonymously due to fears of disciplinary reprisal.
Since the attacks, the Border Patrol's top goal has been to stop potential terrorists and weapons of mass destruction from entering the country.
As a result, frustrated agents fumed in recent interviews, immigration enforcement has taken a back seat.
Agency managers denied such charges as well as accusations that the agency is plagued with low morale. The traditional purpose and new anti-terror mission are equally important and work well simultaneously, they insisted.
For more than eight decades, Mexicans have led the rolls of undocumented-migrant arrests. That holds true today, but migrants from other countries have started catching up.
The once-steady flow of Central Americans has increased, and other nationalities, notably Brazilians, are exploiting the convoluted U.S. immigration system with even more sophistication.
Border Patrol statistics show 39,321 non-Mexican crossers were caught nationwide in fiscal year 2003. The number jumped to 64,056 in 2004 and already has reached 85,062 so far this year.
Though Arizona continues to be the overall border hot spot, the Rio Grande Valley this year became the top destination for non-Mexican crossers.

to read the entire article please go to:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA062505.1A.OTMs.5b9f454.html