Hispanic leaders threaten boycott of radio station
Friday, March 23, 2007

By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER



AP
New Jersey 101.5 WKXW-FM shock jocks Craig Carton, left, and Ray Rossi, far right, appear during their radio talk show, "Jersey Guys."

Hispanic political leaders say they will press sponsors of a radio talk show to sever their ties to the program if the hosts do not drop a campaign urging New Jersey residents to turn in illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

Giving a deadline of two weeks, state Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, D-Essex, said Thursday that unless the campaign ended and the hosts of 101.5 FM's "Jersey Guys" apologized, he and other Hispanic leaders would "hit them where it hurts, in the pocket."

But during their show, Craig Carton and Ray Rossi refused to apologize or end the campaign.

Hispanic leaders say the campaign -- which is called "La Cucha Gotcha" and ends on Cinco de Mayo, or May 5, a Mexican holiday -- is anti-Hispanic.

The WKXW-FM hosts say it is not anti-Hispanic, but anti-illegal immigrant. They say illegal immigrants drain the economy and pose a threat to personal safety.

They said that immigration officials had not apprehended illegal immigrants in New Jersey this year until their campaign began in February. They said the campaign has led to the arrests of more than 300 illegal immigrants in New Jersey so far. But immigration officials say that more than half of the 363 immigrant arrests by March 1 in the state took place in January.

The hosts said they were surprised by the "furor" and the reaction of Hispanics.

"I will not apologize to any community," Carton said. "We never said you can equate illegal immigration with Hispanics."

But he added that "the facts are that [most] illegal immigrants are Hispanics."

To Caraballo, the anti-Hispanic bias is clear.

"They claim the issue is illegal immigration, but they set out to offend Hispanics because they don't think we stand up for ourselves," he said. "They say the campaign is not anti-Hispanic, but when they talk about the campaign they play Mexican music, they gave this campaign a Spanish name and they're ending it on a Mexican holiday."

Caraballo said the campaign was laying the groundwork for violence against Hispanics.

"What these guys are doing is not funny," he said. "The first time a Latino gets beat up, maybe killed, because someone thinks it's an illegal immigrant, these guys are going to regret it."

E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com



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