I was very happy to see the statement by Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck (Boulder Daily Camera, July 10) announcing his office’s creation of a community program to prevent and report crimes against immigrants.

As a Spanish language interpreter and translator in Durango, I am very familiar with the types of crimes that are committed against immigrants, especially by U.S. citizens who take advantage of the fear their victims have of reporting crimes to police. Most notably is the prevalence of domestic violence against immigrant women by their U.S. citizen boyfriends and husbands that goes unreported because of threats of deportation by the perpetrators.

It is a breath of fresh air to see a DA’s office take a proactive stance on this issue, especially since policies such as SB-90 (Colorado’s version of the Arizona anti-immigrant law) and “secure communities” initiatives are adding to the insecurity that immigrant communities feel toward law enforcement.

Thanks and congratulations to Buck for his leadership and hopefully local authorities will have the courage to follow his example.

Danny Quinlan

Durango