A new report describes the hate towards Latino immigrants in Suffolk County, Long Island, and Javier Monroy has lived through it.

One day in March 2008, at 6:30 am, Monroy, of Mexican origin, 56 years old, was attacked by two men in Farmingville, while he walked to his place of work as a gardener. The men struck him more than 10 times on the head with a plank.

Monroy received nine stitches and has a $30,000 debt from the five days he spent in the hospital. He recalled the incident yesterday, "They yelled at me. They left me bleeding in the street," he said.

Monroy is not the only victim of an attack in Suffolk. According to the report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization based in Alabama, Latino immigrants in Suffolk say that they are constantly suffering discrimination, mistreatment, and violent attacks.

The organization began to investigate the situation after the attack on Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant who was stabbed to death in a hate-based attack on November 8, 2008.

Mark Potok, an expert in civil rights, compiled the shocking conclusions in the report called "Climate of Fear: Latino Immigrants in Suffolk County, NY."

"They throw rocks and bottles at them, they are hit with baseball bats, and they shoot at them with guns with plastic bullets from the windows of homes. There was a case in which a Nazi chased an immigrant with a chainsaw," said Potok.

The report asserts that the cases of racial intolerance in Suffolk are not isolated incidents, but part of a pattern established during the past 10 years by anti-immigrant groups, politicians, and the police, who, according to the report, have failed to document these crimes.

The report accuses some authorities with contributing to the discrimination that began with anti-immigrant groups like the Sachem Quality of Life Organization.

The report names County Executive Steve Levy who has supported raids at the homes of immigrants and efforts to get day workers out of the county.

"The message that this is okay is coming from the top," said Potok, referring to the hate crimes.

Levy did not respond directly to the report, but he provided a statement assuring that he denounces "all acts of hate and violence against any person."

There are no statistics of how many hate crimes have occurred in Suffolk County in the past few years, but researcher Sarah Reynolds said that she spoke with approximately 100 people, including community organizers and business owners, who spoke about the abuse. "Some say that they have been spit on in the street, or been given dirty looks in stores; others were run over on their bicycles," she said.

Margaret Smyth, a nun, gave a powerful testimony about the case of a young Latino man, Wilmer, who lost all of his teeth after being attacked with a baseball bat. "When he spoke to me, he did this," said Smyth, covering her mouth with her hand. "The consequences of a hate crime are long-lasting," she said.

Anthony Miranda, president of the National Latino Officers Association, emphasized the importance of documenting hate crimes and said that the situation in Suffolk "is not an immigration problem, but a criminal problem."

Joselo Lucero, Marcelo's brother, who also attended the meeting, said, "Many people in the report did not denounce [the crimes]. You feel powerless. But the time has come to defend ourselves, to speak up."