Hate Speech Cited in Immigration Debate

WASHINGTON—A national Latino group said Thursday it is fighting back against what it considers to be “hate speech” that has emerged from the debate over immigration.

National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia announced plans to pressure television network executives and candidates seeking their parties’ presidential nominations to clamp down on such remarks.

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Some of the remarks the Hispanic group identified included referring to immigrants as an “army of invaders” or an “invading force,” associating immigrants with animals, accusing immigrants of bringing crime and diseases like leprosy to the U.S., and purveying a conspiracy theory that Latinos are trying to take back parts of the United States once ruled by Mexico.

Murguia named as offenders Pat Buchanan, who appears on MSNBC as a commentator, CNN’s Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck of Headline News, a CNN network.

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Murguia accused the television networks of cloaking members of hate groups as anti-immigrant experts on their programs. Among those she singled out was Jim Gilchrist, a co-founder of the Minuteman Project.

In response, Gilchrist called the National Council of La Raza a racial supremacy group that “dwarfs the combination of Black Panthers, KKK, American Indian Movement and Asian gangs.”

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