Horrific news out of suburban New York this month didn't escape Adrian Perez, who lives in Sacramento.

Details keep coming about the Nov. 8 killing of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant in Suffolk County, N.Y., and the teenagers charged with attacking him during their day of hate and rage toward Latino immigrants.

Perez, who is Mexican American, posted details about the crime on the Latino Journal, his English-language news blog.

Kevin Johnson, half Mexican American and the dean of the University of California, Davis, Law School, is also following the story, placing news and commentary on an immigration law blog he co-edits.

In workplaces, homes and communication networks, Lucero's killing is big news among Latinos, Perez and Johnson said. And it has ignited concern that years of negative rhetoric targeting Mexican immigrants – combined with an economic downturn – have produced a dangerous atmosphere.

"Unfortunately," Perez said, "it all goes back to the media, and the rhetoric you hear about immigrants on talk radio, the TV shows, from the politicians."

"You're stirring people up. You're getting people angry," Perez said.

He said he understands that there is tension and dismay over illegal immigration.

"I put myself in the shoes of a 75-year-old woman in New York," he said, who fears changes in her community.

But, he adds, "we really need folks to start educating folks on who the (immigrant) population is," he said. "We need to drop the fear."

He pointed specifically at CNN television host Lou Dobbs and others on TV, radio or Web sites who issue harsh opinions and, he said, often untrue remarks about illegal immigrants – blaming them, for example, for causing health insurance and mortgage crises.

Walter Corea, a Nicaraguan immigrant who manages a Ritmo Latino music store in Sacramento, said Lucero's killing made him wonder how much other violence will occur as the economy worsens.

"The problem is when Americans generalize. Yes, there are some immigrants who do come here to do bad things. But really, most don't," he said. "They want to work, and they are mostly in jobs that most Americans don't want."

Johnson, who has written widely about immigration history, recalled eras when immigrants were eagerly used to fill U.S. labor needs and then became victims of lynchings and mass deportations when the economy slowed.

Among other attacks, a Chinese immigrant, he said, was burned at the stake in Chico in the late 19th century during an economic downturn – after Chinese had helped construct the transcontinental railroad.

This summer, in rural Pennsylvania – a region where tensions over an influx of Latino immigrants are high – local teens jumped Mexican Luis Rivera as he was walking with his American fiancée and beat him to death, witnesses say.

On Monday, in response to Lucero's killing, Latino, Asian, Jewish and African American civil rights leaders appeared together in Washington, D.C., to urge civil discussion on resolving illegal immigration.

They highlighted FBI hate crime statistics released in October that show a steady increase in four years in attacks on Latinos.

"Mr. Lucero's death is a direct consequence of the anger and hate spurred on by media outlets that mischaracterize all Latinos," said Janet Murgia, president of the National Council of La Raza.

The rights leaders also criticized political figures in Suffok County and other regions who have urged using local police to raid homes or to interrogate and detain people they suspect are illegal immigrants.

Lucero was killed Nov. 8 by teenagers, prosecutors say, who regularly indulged in a hate-crime sport the boys called "beaner hopping."

Johnson noted that one boy's family claims, in his defense, that because he is half Puerto Rican and half African American, he can't be guilty of hate crimes.

His alleged role in the attacks, Johnson said, "struck me as a disturbing effort to assimilate."

Prosecutors say the accused teens spent Nov. 8 firing a BB gun at one Latino man, beating another and finally assaulting Lucero.

One boy fatally stabbed Lucero and is charged with second-degree murder and hate crimes, authorities say. Six boys have been charged with hate crimes and gang assault.

Call The Bee's Susan Ferriss, (916) 321-1267.