New York Decries Hate Crime Against Mexican National

“We strongly condemn this new aggression”, says the Mexican Consul-General. “We do not toletate attacks on immigrants, whether from Mexico or another country”.

NEW YORK, N.Y..– The Consul-General of Mexico in New York, Ruben Beltrán, spoke at a press conference held this morning before Staten Island’s Supreme Court. On behalf of the Mexican Government, Beltrán expressed his most energic reproof and concern for the aggression against fellow national Bernardo García, who was attacked by several individuals while returning home from the grocery store in Port Richmond last July 7th, at 8:00 pm.

Only three months after the brutal beating of Rodolfo Olmedo in the same borough, the Consul General came back to Staten Island to partake in a work meeting with City Councilwoman Debi Rose, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Congressman Michael McMahon, District Attorney Dan Donovan and Rev. Terry Troia, Executive Director of Project Hospitality, as well as representatives of the US State Department, the NYPD, the Immigrant Center of Staten Island, Make the Road New York, members of the Staten Island Project Initiative from the private sector and community leaders and representatives of faith-based organizations.

The meeting resulted in the creation of the project We Are Staten Island, launched today as a global, multi-cultural strategy with representation from all of the meeting participants to eradicate such crimes.

The strategy’s three main components are:

• Seeking that hate crimes be prosecuted and punished

• Educating the immigrant community to report such aggressions

• Educating the community at large so that attacks are not repeated

At the core of We Are Staten Island, a workgroup will meet periodically. Their first join action was denouncing bias attacks in Richmond County, which the group added the Borough and New York City have no room for.

During the conference, the Consul-General said that “we are comforted by the fact that in the midst of a surge in deplorable attacks against immigrants, government officials of all levels and the community leaders have come together to create a common strategy to denounce and prevent hate crimes”.

Ambassador Beltrán also announced that the Mexican Consulate will increase its presence in Staten Island, with weekly visits to the Borough by consular personnel collaborating with community-based organizations.

In his role as Coordinator of the The Coalition of Latin American Consuls in New York (CLACNY), Beltrán expressed the energic reproof for this aggression, and urged immigrants to remain alert and to report any act of violence immediately.

The Consul-General underscored that the city’s Police Department serves and protects all residents, regardless of their immigration status, and that the Consulate of Mexico will continue to work with local authorities to safeguard the rights and well-being of Mexican nationals in New York.

Beltrán added that the Consulate-General of Mexico in New York dispatched personnel immediately upon learning of Mr. García’s case, as done previously with Mexican victims in the consular jusrisdiction and encouraged the Mexican community to reach out to consular officers for support or to report any aggression by calling the emergency line (917) 459 2143.