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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Parents: Hispanic kids being bullied in law's wake - Boston.com

Parents: Hispanic kids being bullied in law's wake - Boston.com:

Parents: Hispanic kids being bullied in law's wake

By Jay Reeves
Associated Press / October 22, 2011
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—It was just another schoolyard basketball game until a group of Hispanic seventh-graders defeated a group of boys from Alabama.

The reaction was immediate, according to the Mexican mother of one of the winners, and rooted in the state's new law on illegal immigration.

"They told them, `You shouldn't be winning. You should go back to Mexico,'" said the woman, who spoke through a translator last week and didn't want her name used. She and her son are in the country illegally.

Spanish-speaking parents say their children are facing more bullying and taunts at school since Alabama's tough crackdown on illegal immigration took effect last month. Many blame the name-calling on fallout from the law, which has