The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

On Friday, a jury acquitted two teenagers of serious charges, including ethnic intimidation, in the fatal beating of Luiz Ramirez, a 25 year-old Mexican immigrant, in Shenandoah, Pa., last July.

Police say that the teenagers used ethnic slurs as they repeatedly punched Ramirez, knocked him to the ground, and then kicked him several times in the head. Ramirez died of his injuries two days later.

Hate crimes against Latinos have been increasing since 2003, according to FBI data. Civil rights groups said that this increase correlates closely to the increasingly heated debate over immigration reform and a rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric on radio, television, and the Internet.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act, which will provide local authorities with more resources to combat hate crimes and give federal government jurisdiction over prosecuting hate crimes in states where the current law is inadequate.

"[T] his verdict underscores the importance of the passage of this Act," said Henry Solano, MALDEF interim president and general counsel. "It is time for the Department of Justice to step in and bring justice to the Ramirez family and send a strong message that violence targeting immigrants will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

The Justice Department is currently investigating whether to prosecute the two teenagers under federal civil rights statutes.