Posted on 04/24/2006 6:16:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Prominent Hispanic elected officials, including the mayor of Los Angeles and California's lieutenant governor, have received threats in the midst of a heated national debate over immigration policy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday.
Schwarzenegger told reporters about the threats against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, both Democrats, during a news conference in his office Monday.
"There's something very important that I need to speak to my fellow Californians about," he said. "It has come to my attention that our Lieutenant Gov. Bustamante and our Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa and other elected officials of Mexican heritage have received disturbing and hateful death threats."
Schwarzenegger said he also was disturbed to learned that vandals had torched and spray-painted ethnic insults on a Mexican-owned restaurant in San Diego County earlier this month.
Sheriff's officials ruled the April 10 attack a hate crime.
"That is not what California stands for," Schwarzenegger said. "I've asked the district attorneys throughout our state to be vigilant and swift in their actions against those who practice hate against our fellow citizens."
Bustamante spokesman Steve Green said the lieutenant governor appeared at some immigration rallies with Villaraigosa at the end of March and received "nasty e-mails" afterward. The threat came about three weeks ago on a blank postcard, he said.
"We got one postcard from Pasadena that said words to the effect, 'All you dirty Mexicans should go back to Mexico. The only good Mexican is a dead Mexican,'" Green said.
He said the threat was forwarded to the California Highway Patrol, which declined to comment.
"The CHP investigates threats made against public officials, but we don't discuss the details of those threats," spokeswoman Fran Clader said.
A spokeswoman for Villaraigosa said she didn't know whether the mayor had received any threats because of his position on the immigration debate.
"With any elected official, you get threats from unstable people. I'm not aware of any threats directly related to his position on immigration," spokeswoman Janelle Erickson said.
Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman, Margita Thompson, declined to elaborate on the governor's comments. It was unclear why he chose to discuss the incidents on Monday, before signing an executive order creating a new administration position of crime-victims' advocate.
The fire at a restaurant in the eastern San Diego County town of Jamul occurred April 10, the day after an estimated 50,000 people marched during a pro-immigration rally in downtown San Diego, but sheriff's officials didn't cite a connection.
Obscenities were spray-painted in red on the front door, on a poster advertising NASCAR events and on the side wall of Mariachi's Mexican Bar and Grill, sheriff's officials said. Investigators determined that gasoline or another accelerant was used to set the fire, which caused about $10,000 damage.
A representative of the sheriff's bomb-arson squad could not immediately be reached Monday, and an FBI spokesman did not immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press.
Schwarzenegger's comments came the same day that President Bush addressed illegal immigration during a speech in Orange County.
The governor has said he opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, but also called a massive deportation of the estimated 11 million foreigners living illegally in the United States unrealistic. President Bush gave the same message on the final day of a four-day visit to California.
In Irvine, Bush spoke in support of a stalled Senate bill that includes provisions that would allow for eventual citizenship to some of the illegal immigrants already here. Some conservatives say that would amount to amnesty.
A divided Congress was expected to resume the immigration debate after returning Monday from a two-week recess.
On Sunday, Schwarzenegger gave his most detailed comments to date on a proposal to build a 700-mile wall along the border with Mexico to deter illegal immigration, which was included in legislation enacted in the U.S. House of Representatives.
During an interview on ABC's "This Week," the Republican governor said the wall would amount to "going back to the Stone ages." He also urged the federal government to use high-tech gear and more patrols to secure the nation's southern boundary.
Schwarzenegger has said previously that fences might be appropriate in some areas, but raised doubts about the effectiveness of a wall snaking along the border.
Its sad that he's about the best we can hope for in California.
Maybe Villaraigosa and Bustamante need to drop their support for La Raza and the reconquista movements in the US.
I'll bet that, back in the stone ages, you didn't have to stand there and do nothing while millions of strangers invaded your cave, all the time being forced to listen to a "stranger advocate" lecture you about how your having a cave was unfair to all the "caveless."
The Davis legacy deftly becomes to Arnold legacy...and Arnie ain't helping himself very much....
"Maybe Villaraigosa and Bustamante need to drop their support for La Raza and the reconquista movements in the US."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>........
not only the Dems but BUSH (el presidente) and the RINO's who support illegals staying here..if the GOV continues down this path of appeasement and amnesty,, well we will see if the citizens of America deserve the freedom the founding fathers gave us.
I'm always amazed at what animates these jerks.
The only threats that should be made is throwing these MEChA bums from office.
They must explain which part of "ILLEAGLE" don't they understand.
Arnold's point was that building a wall will not be sufficient and pointed to the tunnels having been found. He suggested more patrols and use of technology such as drones as part of a solution.
God help us if this grammar and spelling is an example of what remains as the defenders of our culture.
I'm not referring to Villaraigosa and Bustamante as dems, I'm talking about Mexican-Americans who believe the south west belongs to Mexico and are waging a bloodless war to retake it.
Sure, from a political stance the pro-immigrant politicians need to look at what 82% of Americans want as well.
I hear ya considering the state AG is married to a MALDEF activist attorney.. oops.
The fix is in,, from gonzales to lockyer
too bad he wasn't very supportive of Ray Haynes initiative for a Cal State Border Police.
This is a standard propaganda ploy. Everybody in public life gets threats, only those against PC positions get public notice. The left has conditioned the public to consider leftists to be superior beings for whom even their victims must show special concern. It's the old thing about the "House Negro." "Is you sick master, can I get you a pillow or rub your feet?" BTW, how many non-hispanic women were raped by someone of central American origin last week in California? How many non-hispanics assaulted or robbed or murdered by Hispanics? Shouldn't the Governor give those crimes publicity, be just as concerned about them as possible evidence of hate as he is about the burning of Mexican restaurants?
I consider hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants marching in our country carrying mexican flags to be a hate crime.
My give a darns busted regarding the two Mechastinians.
seems some here approve of terrorism against hispanics
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