Thread: Contentious politics divide tiny Maywood

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Contentious politics divide tiny Maywood


Ex-city worker held over threats
By Matt Krasnowski
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
July 30, 2006

MAYWOOD – It takes up only 1.2 square miles, but this city south of downtown Los Angeles is no small fry when it comes to political intrigue.

Earlier this year, it gained national attention when city officials declared it a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants.

Now, a former city bureaucrat is behind bars, accused of asking a hit man to kill a councilman and threatening both the councilman and the mayor.

Prosecutors said Hector Duarte Jr., 29, made the threats because he was upset about possible budget cuts that might reduce employee salaries or eliminate his job.

On Friday, Duarte pleaded not guilty to one count of solicitation of murder and six felony threat counts. A preliminary hearing was set for September.

Maywood Councilman Felipe Aguirre contends that at least one of the threats against him seemed to stem from his support for illegal immigrants. Whether true or not, Duarte's arrest hasn't calmed Maywood's political waters.

Last Tuesday, at the first council meeting since Duarte's arrest, Aguirre thanked police but two of his council colleagues didn't join in the applause.

Council members Samuel Peña and George Martinez – two former mayors who lost sway over the council in November's elections, when Aguirre was elected – stared at their hands. Moments earlier they had reminded members of the audience that in the United States, the accused are innocent until proven guilty.

The council chamber drama showcased not only the deep divisions over Duarte, but also the fractious state of politics in this city, where an estimated 96 percent of the residents are Latino.

Maywood is one of the most densely populated cities in the nation. The city's official population is roughly 28,000, but when illegal immigrants are factored in, the count is nearly 45,000, officials said.

Critics of the pro-sanctuary faction say accommodating illegal immigrants creates a state of lawlessness and strains city services.

“There is a lot of tension in Maywood that wasn't there until recently,” said Los Angeles-area political consultant Victor Griego. “What you're seeing is an ideological split between more recent immigrants and the children of immigrants.”

Founded in 1924, Maywood was a bedroom community for a swath of largely industrial cities southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Its official city seal depicts a modest yellow home with a dark factory looming in the background.

Residents worked in neighboring cities such as South Gate, Vernon and Bell, where manufacturing jobs were plentiful. But in the 1980s, many of those jobs dried up, Griego said. Whites moved out, and Latino immigrants moved in. In the late 1990s, the new residents and their children started gaining political control.

Aguirre contends that in Maywood, undocumented immigrants should be considered family – not lawbreakers.

The new council majority elected in November gutted the police's traffic division after receiving complaints that officers unfairly targeted illegal immigrants at drunken-driving checkpoints. Police involved in the crackdown were towing and impounding the cars of unlicensed drivers, most of them illegal immigrants.

In January, the council passed a resolution opposing a proposed federal law that would make illegal immigrants felons.

“The community now feels like they can approach the City Council . . . and it will listen and respond to them,” said the Rev. David Velazquez of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Maywood.

But others said the changes are damaging the city's image and crippling it financially.

“Our police officers' hands are tied,” said Kathleen Larson, a 45-year resident of the city. At the recent City Council meeting, she berated Aguirre and alluded to the alleged murder plot against him, saying, “I wouldn't waste a bullet on you.”

As the policy changes were under way, Mayor Thomas Martin and Aguirre started receiving threats, according to interviews and court records.

Martin allegedly received messages on his cell phone that someone was going to “cap” him. Aguirre received notes threatening him and his family. One stated: “Focus on your residents, not on wetbacks,” court records state.

“This just crossed the line,” Aguirre said.

“It was very real,” Martin said of the threats.

Peña, the rival councilman, said he didn't believe Duarte – recently fired from his position of deputy city clerk – was capable of harming anyone and accused Aguirre of “playing up” the allegations.

Duarte faces 10 years in prison. His bail was set at $950,000, and he remains in custody. His lawyer, John Robertson, refused to comment about the case.

Aguirre and Martin have said there may be more arrests.

Peña called that talk “political showmanship,” and said the real “conspiracy is how this City Council has taken a downward spiral toward its services to the community.”

Aguirre said he hoped at some point, people in the city can “stop the hating.”

“There is a change in this community, definitely, and there may be people who do not like the change, but there are a lot of people who do like the change,” he said.

The new council majority elected in November gutted the police's traffic division after receiving complaints that officers unfairly targeted illegal immigrants at drunken-driving checkpoints. Police involved in the crackdown were towing and impounding the cars of unlicensed drivers, most of them illegal immigrants

And this is what happens when we allow lawbreakers continue to break the law. What have they got to lose? They will just be sent back "home" so that they can return again.

I cannot believe that our government just allows towns and cities to just blatantly ignore the law as it suits them. These people must be living 50 to a house if the town is 1.2 miles square and there are 45,000 residents what about housing laws guess they just ignore them as well. That town must be a complete hellhole.