Mexican immigrants living in Port Richmond, Staten Island, have proved themselves to be hard workers and skilled at running small businesses, despite the recent wave of hate crimes in the area. The neighborhood has a sizeable number of Latino residents. Over time, Mexicans have established a variety of small businesses that bring wealth to the local economy.

Omar Sánchez works at Mexican supermarket Monte Alban, one of the Hispanic-owned businesses vandalized on August 19th, 2008, when an individual perpetrator slammed his pickup truck into a string of locales. The incident was classified as a hate crime against Mexicans. Sánchez, who has been working in the area for 20 years, continues to work at the same supermarket.

Although Sánchez is "somewhat concerned" by the events of 2008, he remains steadfast. "We will continue to work. We Mexicans came here prepared to overcome many obstacles, and the violence isn't going to deter us," he said.

Los Potrillos Restaurant was also one of the businesses targeted in 2008. The owner, María Morales, reiterated what she said two years ago. "Nobody is going to make us move. This is our community and they aren't going to scare us off," Morales said, while attending to customers at her taco stand, located at 150th Avenue in Port Richmond.

"If they're trying to scare us, they haven't succeeded. These hate crimes won't bring us down," said Alejandro Morán, owner of Alexander Hair Style.

"In my view, the deed was done by a crazy person or a drunk, somebody who wasn't quite right in the head," said Carmen Castillo, referring to the incidents in 200, an employee at the gift shop Mexico City 2.

Julio Domínguez, who resides on the other side of Staten Island, explained that the first significant wave of Mexicans began arriving on Staten Island in the 1990s.

"The first Mexicans came to Port Richmond, and then moved on to Victory and soon lived all throughout Staten Island," said Domínguez, as he toiled in the kitchen at Los Potrillos, located at 42 New Dorp Plaza, close to the beach.

"We work in all types of industries: bakeries; restaurants; floral shops; travel agencies; any type of business," Domínguez added. He came to Staten Island in 1990. "At first it was rare to see a Mexican here. Everything was quiet, at work and at home, walking to the mall or en route to Manhattan. It was a ghost town," he recalled.

According to Domínguez, Staten Island – and in particular Port Richmond – became more dynamic in 2000. "Different types of businesses started opening, including bars. Staten Island began to have a nightlife."

When Domínguez first moved to the United States, he and his brother-in-law rented a bakery in Queens and were the first ones to sell pan de feria, or traditional Mexican bread, in New York City.

"We began to sell Mexican products on Staten Island, including tortillas; first from house to house and later on we started other businesses," Domínguez said with pride. "Mexicans go through many ordeals, but making us leave Staten Island would be tough. This place has become our second home, and nobody is going to make us move."

Mexicans settled on Staten Island affirm that they haven't considered leaving, despite the violence that has claimed 11 victims since April and put local authorities on high alert to combat the problem of racial prejudice.

According to David Dyssegaard Kallick of the Fiscal Policy Institute, 43 percent of Mexicans in New York work primarily in the service sector, 16 percent work in construction, and 12 percent in production.

"Mexicans make up the largest immigrant population on Staten Island, with close to 9 percent in 2008, followed by Italians at close to 8 percent," said Kallick, referring to the FPI report entitled Working for a Better Life.

In 2007, immigrants contributed a total of $229 billion to the New York economy, representing 22.4 percent of the gross domestic product in the state.

The study also showed that "immigrants played an important role in revitalizing neighborhoods in crisis during the '70s" and concluded that "without immigrants, the city's population would have declined, rather than expanded."