In November 2008, Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant was attacked and killed by seven teenagers in the town of Patchogue on Long Island. Later, one of his attackers confessed that hunting immigrants was a frequent pastime for his group of friends. Lucero’s death highlighted the disturbing trend that hate crimes against Latinos were on the rise and were being fueled by anti-immigrant rhetoric from local politicians. In her new book, Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All American Town, Mirta Ojito revisits Lucero’s murder and explores the trends and circumstances that lead to his tragic death.

Photo by Joel Saget, AFP

Mirta Ojito, a reporter since 1987, has worked for The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, and, from 1996 to 2002, for The New York Times, where she covered immigration, among other beats, for the Metro Desk. She has received numerous awards, including the American Society of Newspaper Editor’s writing award for best foreign reporting in 1999 for a series of articles about life in Cuba, and a shared Pulitzer for national reporting in 2001 for a New York Times series of articles about race in America.