Violent anti-immigrant attacks should not be the expected story of the day in Staten Island. The borough's leaders and communities should develop both short-term and long-term strategizes for preventing hate attacks.

The latest of these came last Friday. Fidel González was left with a broken jaw and other injuries after he was attacked by thugs who robbed him and yelled anti-Mexican slurs. No arrests have been made yet.

González was beaten in Port Richmond, where several other Mexican immigrants have been targeted and violently attacked since April. Reports of hate crimes have increased in that area.

Ironically, just a week before the attack, a community forum on hate crimes had taken place in the borough. Representatives of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and immigrant advocacy organizations reminded participants that immigrants should not be afraid to come forward as crime victims or witnesses. Under the city's Executive Order 41, immigration status is considered confidential in those and other cases.

This message can't be emphasized enough. As experts on hate crimes continually point out, this violence is often under-reported because undocumented victims fear revealing their immigration status. And attackers are emboldened by this vulnerability.

Smart and regularly publicized policies such as E0 41 help gain the confidence of immigrants. Initiatives to bridge communities – such as one Councilwoman Deborah Rose has introduced – and to deter violence are key. But these initiatives have to be sustained. These include the use of hate crimes curricula for young people, one of the recommendations that came out of Governor Paterson's hate crimes task force.

A community meeting scheduled for this Friday in Port Richmond should be an opportunity to determine how all community residents can prevent anti-immigrant violence. This is a matter of life and death, as we have seen from Suffolk County to Brooklyn to Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.