Hate crime killing of Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue may be investigated by human rights panel

He was killed nearly two decades ago in a hate crime in Patchogue, but the death of Ecuador native Marcelo Lucero still resonates with Latino immigrants who face a mass deportation campaign in the United States, advocates said.

Now, two nonprofits are hoping to bring Lucero’s case to a renowned international human rights commission to focus attention on what they call ongoing abuses of Latino immigrants.

The Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center in Washington, D.C., and LatinoJustice PRLDEF in Manhattan are asking the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to take on Lucero’s case.

For decades, the quasi-judicial commission has investigated human rights abuses mainly in Latin America, including massacres, "disappearances" of abducted activists and freedom of the press conflicts. Although the United States and other countries do not consider the findings and recommendations of the Washington-based commission as binding, their conclusions can exert political pressure on governments.

"The United States government has created the perfect storm for terrorizing immigrants," Delia Addo-Yobo, U.S. senior staff attorney at the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, said in a statement. "ICE agents have been emboldened to conduct masked raids and arrest people off the street solely for how they look or the language they speak.

"Mr. Lucero’s case shows that these actions have consequences," she said. "When you dehumanize an entire group of people, you open the door to violence."

Killed in 2008

Lucero was killed in November 2008 by a group of teenagers looking for and attacking Latino immigrants in the Patchogue area, according to police and prosecutors.

Medford resident Jeffrey Conroy, then 19 and a member of the group, was sentenced in 2010 to 25 years in prison for fatally stabbing Lucero near the Patchogue train station. The case garnered national and international attention, spotlighting Long Island as a flashpoint in the debate over immigration.

The two civil rights groups said in a statement that Lucero’s case "clearly illustrates how anti-immigrant rhetoric and xenophobic attitudes can lead to hate crimes — a topic made all the more relevant amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown."

President Donald Trump said his mass deportation campaign is aimed at violent immigrants in the country illegally, though studies show most of those arrested have no criminal record.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment. The agency has contended it is following the law in arresting migrants.

'Fighting for justice'

LatinoJustice filed a petition with the commission shortly after Lucero’s death asking it to investigate widespread human rights violations against Latinos, including Lucero. The commission didn't take up the case then, but the groups hope it will now, said Rafaela Uribe, senior counsel of racial justice at LatinoJustice PRLDEF. They filed the new request last Friday.

"Eighteen years after our initial filing, we are still fighting for justice for Mr. Lucero's family and the affected community," Uribe said in a statement.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights did not respond to a request for comment.

If the commission decides to hear the case, Lucero’s brother, Joselo, who became a human rights advocate on Long Island after Marcelo’s death, would testify. 

Joselo Lucero said in an interview that "we are going backward" on protecting the rights of Latinos in the United States.

The federal immigration crackdown, which at times has the help of local law enforcement officials, "is terrifying the community," Lucero said. "They create fear but also hate."

In an interview, Uribe said often "we tend to look at the human rights violations of other nations without examining if our government is following and respecting the human rights of its own citizens and the people who live within our country."

"We think it's also important for the world to see that there are people within the United States who are calling for a better ... support of human rights," she said.