Arizona:
Anti-Immigrant Gang Kills Father and Daughter in Cold Blood

Jun 22, 2009

An Arizona sheriff has charged three members of an anti-immigrant group of murdering 29-year-old Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia in their home south of Tucson, about 10 miles from the Mexican border. Flores’ wife, Gina Maria Gonzales, was wounded by the killers who were dressed as cops. She survived only because she was able to use a shotgun to hold them off.

According to the sheriff, the gang was attempting to rob Flores in order to finance their activities. The gang is now also suspected of carrying out robberies and burglaries in California.

Shawna Forde, the leader of this gang, the anti-immigrant group Minuteman American Defense (a split-off from a larger Minuteman group), has ties with right-wing politicians. During the run-up to the 2008 presidential primaries, the group co-sponsored an anti-immigrant forum and rally which featured campaign staffers for Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, who was running for president, along with a letter of support from the candidate himself. The meeting was addressed via telephone by California Congressman Duncan Hunter, also seeking to become a candidate for president, and by Congressional hopeful Doug Roulstone.

These politicians always claim they oppose the violence of gangs like Forde’s. But they certainly create the atmosphere that makes this kind of violence more likely. They systematically whip up hysteria and prejudice against immigrant workers, blaming them for the loss of jobs and the crime that the bosses and their system create.

In fact, they are tools of the bosses, trying to weaken and divide workers who are faced with attacks carried out by the bosses.