In the wake of what appears to be an anti-immigrant beating in rural Clackamas County last week, immigrants rights supporters are coming together to speak out against the wave of attacks—and placing much of the blame on Republicans in the state legislature.

A new conference was held by the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition this morning on the side of the La Sirenita restaurant on NE Alberta—the mural on the sidewall of the restaurant was tagged with several white swastikas about two weeks ago.

The message from several of the speakers, including Aeryca Steinbauer of CAUSA, was a denunciation of the attack, as well as a larger denunciation of anti-immigrant rhetoric spewing forth from lawmakers.

Specifically, Steinbauer criticized a package of anti-immigrant bills sitting in the state legislature, which her organization is tracking, like the REAL ID Act, one mandating English as the state’s official language, and another that would deputize local police as immigration enforcement officers. Many of the bills are co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Vic Gilliam, who represents the district where the beating took place, and House Republican Leader Wayne Scott, who represents nearby Canby—not to mention Clackamas Rep. Linda Flores.

The swastika tags and the beating are just “symptoms of rampant xenophobia,” Steinbauer said. The message was clear—attacks in the legislature lead to attacks in the community.

Speaking of legislative attacks—blogger Torrid Joe at loadedorygun.blogspot.com yesterday posted about the real impact of the REAL ID law, which sets up stringent processes to prove citizenship before being allowed to do, well, much of anything. The rules that require proof of citizenship in order to receive federal health benefits, for instance, have successfully blocked around 1,000 Oregon citizens from receiving benefits. Not illegal immigrants—Oregon citizens.

In fact, one could argue—and many people have—that undocumented residents actually under-utilize government services since they don’t exactly want to draw attention to themselves. And that can mean that they’re reluctant to call the police if they’re being attacked—last week’s beating was probably not an isolated event, but one that couldn’t be swept under the rug due to the size of the vigilante mob.

Activists and religious leaders will also be holding a pro-immigrant vigil this Sunday, June 3, at Carnegie Center Park in Oregon City, 7th and Jefferson Street, at 6pm.

Oh, as for those swastikas—at the end of the press conference, an artist showed up with a few buckets of paint to paint over them.