(SF District Atty) George Gascon: beating case highlights trend of anti-immigrant sentiment

[pampango]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two men were convicted last week for the beating of two Mexican nationals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood in November in a case that District Attorney George Gascon said today highlights a growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the city and around the country.

The attack started when a group that included Allen and Meskan, who Gascon said both have ties to a racist skinhead group, surrounded victim Alex Cauich and began to assault him, knocking him to the ground, punching him and kicking him in the face until he passed out. ... During the attack, witnesses reported hearing the men yelling "white power," and "run like you run across the border," prosecutors said. A laptop found in Allen's apartment had Nazi and Hitler imagery on the background of the screen.

Gascon and Hwang, who prosecuted the case, said at a news conference at the Hall of Justice today that they were disappointed that the hate crime enhancement was rejected by the jury. Hwang said that after the verdict was announced, he talked to jurors, some of whom told him that the jury's instructions that the crime had to be caused by hate led to their rejection of the enhancement. He said jurors felt that the fight was not necessarily started for hate crime reasons, but may have become racially motivated based on the length and severity of the attack.

The case is an example of an "anti-immigrant environment that is spreading throughout the country," Gascon said. "As the economy gets more challenged, people are beginning to feel that their jobs and livelihoods are being threatened, and immigrants become the scapegoats," he said. "We want to make sure here in San Francisco that we take a very clear stand, and say this will not be tolerated in our town."

http://www.ktvu.com/news/29478643/detail.html

Unfortunately, it is thugs like Allen and Meskan who feel empowered to act like the jerks they are when certain groups - like Hispanics who all come to be viewed by some as "illegals" - are the subjects of a steady stream of scorn from "respectable" society.