Victim Impact Statement

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I. Overview

As the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has been deeply involved in debating issues for more than forty years. During that time, our organization has developed a thick skin when it comes to those who oppose or disagree with us. Verbal and written attacks are a fact of life for any advocacy organization.

Yet, since 2006 when the first comprehensive immigration reform bill came before Congress, there has been a sea change in the level, volume, and ferocity of these attacks from both individuals and groups. Many of these, as in the case of Mr. Szaz, have “crossed the line” of acceptable public discourse.

NCLR was a target of the defendant last year. Mr. Szaz sent an offensive and harassing email to NCLR, which included a direct threat of death and bodily harm. While we hold no personal animus toward him, and we recognize that he has pled guilty, cooperated with the FBI, and sought treatment for conditions which may have affected his state of mind when he committed his offenses, we find Mr. Szaz’s treatment of us and other organizations that are parties to this case to be unacceptable.

We believe that this case is the result of a pattern and practice of hate speech and harassment that has been perpetrated under the guise of illegal immigration reform. Words have consequences. And hateful words have hateful consequences. Here in North Carolina an environment of hate and fear has been created by anti-immigrant groups and even some public officials.

It is essential that this Court make a larger statement to those who have committed, or may be prone to committing, similar crimes that free speech does not give anyone license to make death threats and that the First Amendment does not protect hate crimes.

We urge the Court to impose a suitable punishment

II. Institutional and Personal Effects

Offensive emails, telephone calls, and threats have taken a considerable economic and emotional toll on our organization and on the Latino community at large.

But it is even more disturbing that some have acted upon their threats. One of NCLR’s staff, a U.S. citizen, was accosted by an individual purporting to make a “citizen’s arrest” of her on alleged immigration violations. A day labor center operated by an NCLR Affiliate in the Washington, DC suburbs was firebombed. A member of the Minuteman Project was arrested at a pro-immigration rally (and subsequently convicted) for assault and carrying concealed weapons, including a knife, a Taser, guns, and ammunition. I spoke at that rally, which was attended by many NCLR staff and their family members.

As a result, NCLR has found it necessary to invest significant resources in strengthening security for our management, staff, and physical plant over the last two years. These steps include hiring a security consulting firm to review our security measures and make recommendations for improvement; hiring a full-time security guard for our headquarters building in Washington, DC; hiring security and private transportation for me on my out-of-town trips; and providing 24-hour security for the most visible NCLR staff and Board members at NCLR events such as the Annual Conference. The estimated annual cost for NCLR of these additional security measures is nearly $100,000.

Equally troubling is the emotional cost these threats have imposed on our organization and its staff. Staff and Board members have been threatened and, not surprisingly, are feeling personally unsafe and vulnerable simply for coming to work and doing their job. While one could argue that people in positions of power and who serve as spokespeople should anticipate some degree of public scrutiny as part of the job, the other staff members who work on programs such as health, housing counseling, or fundraising have also been subjected to this kind of harassment.

Yet every single NCLR field office save one has been the target of in-person, phone, email, or fax harassment and threats. Several of those offices have just one or two young female staff members, and their sense of safety has been affected. We are also concerned that this could have a chilling effect on talented young people who might otherwise want to go into nonprofit or public service.

III. Effects on the Latino Community

Mr. Szaz’s actions are the tip of the proverbial iceberg of hate crimes associated with the rise in hate speech, inflammatory and offensive rhetoric, and uncivil discourse on the question of immigration. Many media watchdogs, civil rights groups, and immigrant advocacy organizations, including NCLR, have documented the rise in hate rhetoric in the media surrounding the issue of immigration, most especially on talk radio and cable news networks.

As a consequence it should be no surprise that hate crimes against Latinos are up 35 percent over four years. The number of hate groups targeting Latinos is up 48 percent since the year 2000. Two-thirds of Latinos say that the failure of the immigration bill has made life more difficult for Latinos overall, and roughly half say that it has affected them personally. And just last week, the Pew Hispanic Center found that one in ten Latinos has been questioned by authorities about their immigration status.

The climate of hate is alive and well in North Carolina. North Carolina is home to one of the most vocal media and Internet presences in the anti-immigrant movement, ALIPAC. While ALIPAC’s leader William Gheen has accused Latinos in the state of every sin under the sun, it is his penchant for threats that is most disturbing. He has threatened a host of community leaders, including some associated with NCLR, and in February he wrote to NCLR, “Within a few weeks or months, it is likely you will regret ever attempting to do what you are doing today. We will deal with you next week.”

Furthermore, in some cases, this kind of rhetoric has been repeated by public officials. Just last week a News & Observer article chronicled the sentiments of Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bissell, who engaged in extensive Mexican-bashing in front of a journalist. In this atmosphere, it is not surprising that a recent News & Observer article documented the threats against and harassment of NCLR’s Board Chair Andrea Bazán, who is a longtime community activist and current President of one of North Carolina’s largest foundations, and Tony Asion, the Executive Director of El Pueblo, a leading voice for the Hispanic community in North Carolina and one of NCLR’s most effective Affiliate organizations.

In sum, our fear is that Mr. Szaz’s offense is just part of a pattern that has yet to reach its peak. This fear is reaffirmed by the fact that NCLR is currently cooperating with the FBI in an investigation of others who we believe have committed similar or even more threatening offenses.

IV. Conclusion

As an organization, we believe in the spirited debate of issues. We recognize that many will not agree with our positions or be moved by our rhetoric. We uphold and support the right to free speech in this country and are an ardent defender of civil liberties.

But we also recognize that civil discourse should not be a cloak to disguise hate and injustice. We have spent the better part of this past year trying to expose the ties to white supremacy and eugenics by many in the anti-immigrant movement. We have tried to demonstrate that their codes words, meant to dehumanize immigrants or to paint them as a threat to our nation's health or our sovereignty, leads to hate and violence. We have catalogued the rise of hate crimes against Latinos and the dramatic increase in hate groups that target Latinos. Such rhetoric creates an environment of fear among those who are targeted. It also creates an environment of permission to those who seek to act on their hate.

The case of Christopher Szaz does not come as a surprise to anyone in the Latino community. It should not come as a surprise to anyone in this state. We ask that justice be served in the case of Christopher Szaz and that he be given an appropriate sentence for his crimes.

But we want to reiterate that NCLR believes this case is the result of a pattern and practice of hate speech and harassment which has been perpetrated under the guise of illegal immigration reform. Words have consequences. And hateful words have hateful consequences. Here in North Carolina and elsewhere, an environment of hate and fear has been created by anti-immigrant groups and even some public officials who seek to capitalize on this for political purposes or political expediency.

What these detractors and others who represent the voices of hate do not understand is something the rest of us do know: that we are a nation of immigrants and that the values that immigrants have are the same ones all Americans hold dear—faith, family, love of country, hard work, and our hope for a better future for this great nation.

Your Honor, today you have the opportunity to reassure all Americans that justice can be served and that hope can triumph over fear and hatred.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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