The poison of hate has no place in the immigration debate. And yet, unfortunately, it has always found a home there.

It's common for human beings to fear the foreign or the different, and for fear to be supplanted by hatred. But what is not natural, and should never be shrugged off, is for people to resort to violence to show their displeasure with those who have a different skin color or practice a different religion or speak a different language.

There is something profoundly unnatural about what happened July 12 in the 5,000-population town of Shenandoah, Pa. That is where a 25-year-old illegal immigrant named Luis Ramirez was beaten by at least six teenagers who hurled racial slurs as they pounded and kicked him until he had convulsions and foamed at the mouth. These thugs stomped the father of two so hard that an imprint of the Jesus medallion he wore around his neck was imbedded on his chest. Ramirez died a few days later, leaving behind his children and his American fiancee.

Trying to do damage control, town officials initially called it a fight that went too far. But it's obvious that this was more than that. It looks and smells like a hate crime, especially since the teens are said to have made a point of telling Ramirez to "go back to Mexico," calling him a "dirty Mexican" and warning other Mexican residents to do likewise or wind up like Ramirez.

Authorities see a racial bias in this case, which is why they charged 16-year-old Brandon J. Piekarsky and 17-year-old Colin J. Walsh with homicide and 18-year-old Derrick M. Donchak with aggravated assault. All three are charged with ethnic intimidation and will be tried as adults.

The case has a familiar ring. In April 2006, a 16-year-old Mexican-American named David Ritcheson was viciously attacked in Houston by two racist skinheads, David Henry Tuck and Robert Turner, after he tried to kiss a white girl. According to news reports, Tuck broke Ritcheson's jaw, knocking him unconscious, while screaming "white power!" and calling Ritcheson a "spic" and a "wetback." Turner joined in the attack, and the two young men burned Ritcheson with cigarettes, kicked him with steel-toed boots, poured bleach on him and tried to carve a swastika into his chest. They finally sodomized him with a patio umbrella pole.

Tuck was sentenced to life in prison. Turner got 90 years. Nearly a year and a half after the attack, Ritcheson committed suicide.

Back in Shenandoah, the local Hispanic community is outraged about what happened to Luis Ramirez, demanding an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. That may be warranted. If what happened there constitutes a federal hate crime, it should be treated as such.

But let's not miss the big picture. It is no coincidence that this kind of ugliness coincides with an immigration debate that makes scapegoats out of those who come into the country illegally.

These people aren't innocent. But nor are they the villains in this drama. That title is reserved for those who prey on the weak and use violence to make their point.

REPRINTED FROM THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.