- WASHINGTON - Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
got dozens of profanity-laden telephone calls - including a threat on his
life - on Tuesday, all connected to a bill he authored that aims to rein
in illegal immigration.
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- The calls began coming in to his district office in Huntington
Beach shortly after 8:30 a.m. At 9:16 a.m., a male caller left an anonymous
message for Rohrabacher, who has long spoken out against illegal immigration.
It started out with an expletive, and then the caller said: "I'm going
to kill you. I have to pay for you. I'm going to kill you."
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- Rohrabacher last week introduced a bill that would require
hospitals that treat illegal immigrants to inform federal authorities so
the individuals could be deported. Hospitals that failed to do so would
not receive federal funds set aside to help them defray the cost of treating
the undocumented.
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- Since then, he has received many calls and has been the
subject of derision in the Spanish-language media. Tuesday morning, a New
York-based radio show left a message at the district office. Soon afterward,
the profane calls started, his staff said.
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- "I've received a lot of angry and abusive calls
in my time, but I've never received any that said they were going to kill
me," Rohrabacher said. He said he is neither frightened nor terrorized,
but with his wife, Rhonda, pregnant, "I don't take these threats lightly."
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- Rohrabacher said his efforts to stop illegal immigration
are often misinterpreted as anti-immigrant or racist.
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- "Every single speech I give about illegal immigration,
I spend half the time talking about how wonderful legal immigration has
been for our nation," Rohrabacher said.
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- Huntington Beach police were called to Rohrabacher's
office, and the Capitol Police in Washington were also informed. Rohrabacher
said he and his staff would take precautions but did not elaborate.
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