LA VOZ DE AZTLAN
Los Angeles, Alta California
September 17. 2008
Another attack in Shenandoah follows beating
death of Mexican immigrantA vicious assault in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania of a 21 year old Mexican man by the name of Javier Alcala Jr. on Friday comes just two months after the brutal racially motivated murder of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez.
Both MALDEF and LULAC have requested the FBI and the US Department of Justice to investigate the case to determine if this new assault is a racially motivated hate crime.
Javier Alcala Jr., claims that three skinheads beat him on the head with a metal object, bound and blindfolded him with duct tape and then proceeded to torture him. He says that they used a "drill" and a "torch" to terrorize him. Alcala adds that he was then beaten to unconsciousness and dumped in a street. He was taken to Saint Catherine Medical Center and the police notified.
Javier Alcala suffered a head injury, damaged teeth, bruises and an arm injury. According to Shenandoah Mayor Tom O'Neill, police have interviewed the victim twice, including once at a hospital. The immigration status of Alcala is unknown but the mayor said the police had difficulty interviewing the victim because he was extremely frightened.
Attorney Gladys Limon of MALDEF said the organization was made aware of the assault on Javier Alcala after a community member called Saturday. After speaking with the person who called MALDEF, Ms. Limon said she called the Department of Justice and the FBI. Ms. Limon said she also spoke with the victim by telephone on Saturday.
Department of Justice spokeswoman Jamie Hais said Tuesday that the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is opening an investigation into the Friday incident. FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said that an FBI agent from the Allentown Resident Agency is also reviewing the attack.
Ms. Limon said, “We have not received any information as of yet that indicates that this was racially motivated.” Ms. Limon added, “What we do know is that this was a serious crime against a young Mexican man in Shenandoah and it requires an immediate and full investigation.”
LULAC National Executive Director Brent Wilkes said the group is also looking at the incident because of the rising number of hate crimes against immigrants in the U.S. “Our concern is that the anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s been pretty visible in media and in policy discussions is starting to embolden people to take the next step in terms of getting violent with immigrants, or people who they perceive to be immigrants, which primarily means Latinos and their communities,” Wilkes said.
Related La Voz de Aztlan reports:Racist Whites kill another undocumented Mexican immigrant
Witness to beating death of Mexican immigrant by Whites interviewed
Charges finally filed in the hate killing of Mexican immigrant
Arab-American Severely Beaten by Islamophobics in California
