UPDATE: The investigation has led to a Republican Party campaign in the 47th Congressional District. The candidate is an immigrant from Vietnam. A report will be publish after the FBI and the State Attorney General make official statements.

A copy of the letter is HERE.

Racists Intimidate Latino Voters in California

by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - October 18, 2006 - (ACN) The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Attorney General are investigating an ugly letter that was sent to Latino voters in Orange County that is racist and intimidating and designed to stop immigrants from voting next month. The letterhead and return address on the envelope indicates that it may have come from a well known anti-immigrant organization from Huntington Beach called California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR). The leader of CCIR, Barbara Coe, has denied that she or her group sent the letter. Barbara Coe has been ordered to appear at State Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office today.

Photocopy of letter with CCIR letterhead

The letter is in informal Spanish and poorly written. It appears to have been literally translated from an English version. The letter warns that it is a crime for immigrants to vote and that they could be jailed or deported if they go to the polls next month. The letter also warns that the government of the United States has installed a new computer system to verify the names of all Latino voters and that anti-immigration organizations can ask for information from this new computer system.

The letter has resulted in strong responses from California Latino elected officials and from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a letter yesterday to State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Governor Schwarzenegger said the letter was "racist" and "despicable," and asked for the perpetrators to be tried for a hate crime. The crime carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The Chairman of the California Democratic Party, Art Torres, called the letter a "hate crime" and is asking for a thorough investigation and prosecution by federal and state authorities. State Senator Gloria Romero of Los Angeles said, "You can't help but feel disgusted with the contents of this letter. I'm not just going to sit silent."

CCIR return address on envelope

US Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez who represents the area most affected sent a letter U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales strongly requesting an immediate investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Rep. Sanchez asked that the FBI to investigate "Barbara Coe of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, and/or persons acting or purporting to act on their behalf for potential violating of the voter intimidation provisions of the Voting Rights Act and other federal election-related statutes." Rep. Sanchez called the letter "a naked attempt to intimidate duly registered Latino citizens from exercising their right to vote."

US Postage mass mailing permit # 438. This may be the best evidence for the FBI

Even though Barbara Coe has denied that her group originated the letter, some Latino leaders expressed doubts yesterday about Coe’s denial and said they suspected the letter was part of a concerted, long-term effort on the part of groups like hers to intimidate voters. “They’re taking as much action as they can to make the lives of Latinos as miserable as possible,” said Brent Wilkes, the national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group. These groups, which includes the Minutemen vigilantes, have also abused the judicial system by filing a series of frivolous suits designed to harass their opponents and intimidate the Latino press.

This is not the first time that the California Coalition for Immigration Reform has been investigated. The FBI also investigated Barbara Coe's group in 1996 and 1998 because CCIR members held intimidating signs near polls stating no immigrants could vote. In addition there was a very ugly incident in the city Garden Grove on May 26, 2005 that involved a Barbara Coe supported event on behalf of Minuteman James Gilchrist who was a candidate for Congressman at the time. It occurred when about 380 Mexican-Americans and other Latinos had gathered outside the Woman's Civic Club of Garden Grove to protest the vigilante operations along the Mexico/California border. When the meeting ended and as the vigilantes were leaving the parking lot, one well known anti-Mexican activist in Los Angeles, Hal Netkin, ran down two Mexican-American protestors with his car, one a young girl. The two were rushed to the emergency hospital and Hal Netkin was arrested, handcuffed and jailed. There is a short report of the incident at http://www.aztlan.net/minutemen_event_violence.htm.