Sharp increase in hate crimes 'against every group'
THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER-
He hoped to be the Obama Administration's "Maytag repairman" -- available but rarely called on. But Tom Perez finds the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division dealing with a sharp increase in hate crimes.
"The data and my own experience is that hate crimes are on the rise: Hate crimes against every group are on the rise," Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said in an interview Wednesday.
Perez was in Seattle for a forum on bullying at Washington Middle School and meeting with judges and prosecutors at the U.S. Courthouse.
He voiced concern, in particular, that hate crimes directed at Latinos are "on the rise" and recounted a prosecution recently brought in Trenton, N.J., against "DevilFish" -- a man sending e-mail threats to leaders of the National Council of La Raza and other Hispanic leaders.
Why? "They had the audacity to stand up for immigration reform," Perez said. "We sent the FBI out to the guy to say, essentially, 'Cut it out! Stop your behavior.' But he only redoubled what he had been doing."
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