Latinos in Trenton caught up in immigration hoax

Was somebody trying to spook Latinos in New Jersey from attending this Sunday’s immigrant’s rights rally in Washington? That’s one possibility being brought up after an immigration hoax reportedly scared Latinos in Trenton.

False word spread through e-mails and text messages that federal officials were conducting raids at a shopping mall in the New Jersey capitol. “We don’t know where this is coming from, but it was very upsetting to a lot of people. It’s just not right,” said Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund representative Maria Juega to The Trentonian newspaper. The deception led to Latinos staying away in droves from stores like a Food Bazaar supermarket whose manager reported a 20% drop in customers as a result of the hoax.

The rumors come on the heels of another hoax that claimed that immigration agents conducted raids a Philadelphia area Wal-Mart stores. That ruse was more detailed than the one on Saturday:

The Food Bazaar rumor followed a similar false story of a supposed agreement allowing immigration agents to enter Wal-Mart stores to arrest illegal immigrants, Juega said.

The rumor has been spread through e-mail and text messages that include photographs of agents next to handcuffed people, she said. The pictures were supposedly taken during a recent raid at a Philadelphia area Wal-Mart. Lee said the distribution of the photographs suggested the rumor was an orchestrated hoax.

Whatever the motive may be behind the hoaxes (including a supposedly “misguided” attempt at promoting immigration reform) such juvenile tricks do nothing but stoke fear and deepen divisions in our communities. They are a distraction from the important work of formulating, passing, and enacting meaningful changes to the immigration system.

Image- Illinois State Museum
Online Sources- NJ.com, PR Newswire, The Trentonian, New York Daily News