For Immediate Release // Please Excuse Cross Posting
Friday, September 24, 2021
Media Contact: Viridiana Vidal (702) 206-2110 // vvidal@ndlon.org

Long Island Community Groups Responded to Recent Hate Crimes Against Migrant Day Laborers

Civil rights groups denounced the rhetoric that demonizes migrant day laborers, encourage workers to come forward with more information

SEE RECORDED CONFERENCE HERE:
https://fb.watch/8dIZtwbira/

Riverhead, New York – In response to a brutal hate crime committed against three Latino day laborers, the Long Island community hosted a press conference on Friday to send a message to the community and local officials about the violence targeting the immigrant community – and to call for the community’s help in reporting such abuse.

On Sunday, police arrested a Long Island man and charged him with hate crimes targeting at least three Latino day laborers, driving them to remote locations, beating and choking them (NBC NY). All three workers who were attacked – that police know of – managed to escape.

Civil rights groups have denounced the hate crimes and the rightwing rhetoric that incites violence, and are urging other day laborers and community members to provide information about the case to the police or trusted community organizations.

After four years of the most virulent, anti-immigrant president in US history, hate crimes have hit a 12-year high across the United States. Recent mass shootings have specifically targeted immigrant working people, including the massacres of 8 eight people in Atlanta, GA in March 2021, and 23 people in El Paso, TX in August of 2019.

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