SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The messages make it quite clear.
Mexicans are to blame for the swine flu in the U.S.
Here's a sample of blogs from Utahns.
"We have so many illegals from Mexico. They are bringing it in through the borders.”
Another anonymous blogger wrote this:
"Mexico is exporting something we don't want…the swine flu."
A woman from American Fork wrote this letter to the Deseret News:
"Since most of the workers who cook our food in the restaurants are foreigners, has anyone thought of going around checking these establishments to make sure their workers are not carriers of the swine flu?"
"When you have a wide open border like we do, there's no doubt that at least some of it and perhaps a majority of cases, I believe have gone undetected until now are in fact because of the traffic across that open border,” said Eli Cawley of the Utah Minuteman Project.
Utah Latinos say they’re more concerned with their families in Mexico than the hate mail spreading throughout the Wasatch Front.
"Its ignorance, people don't think that it can happen to any race any place of the world,” said Rosa Gonzalez of Provo.
Mexican officials said there is no evidence illegal immigrants are bringing the Swine Flu with them.
In fact, they said it is Americans or Europeans who visit Mexico and return with the virus.
"We have to be more careful with our judgment,” said Tony Yapias of Proyecto Latino. “We should take some caution about what we're saying. We can't make everything about race."
The Center for Disease Control reports that 36,000 people in the U.S. will die from regular flu each year.
Meanwhile, the Swine Flu has claimed one life so far.
"It’s my hope and this is based not on science but on a kind of hope that this is going to be relatively mild illness that will face out over the coming weeks,” said Dr. David Sundwall with the Utah Health Department.
