William Dirks works for Centro del Pueblo, the immigrant rights group that started the garden in 2021. He said it was created to provide a safe space for the Latino community to grow food from their home countries.
“To have somebody come out here and do this, it’s just heartbreaking," Dirks said.
This garden has been targeted at least 13 times in the last two years, Dirks said. Incidents include destroyed crops, stolen security cameras and the words "USA TRUMP" spray painted on the garden's signage.
Since the Arcata Police Department released footage of a suspect in June, there’s been a lull in the incidents, Dirks said. The most recent happened on June 2, according to Central del Pueblo, when someone spray-painted "USA" on the garden's sign.
The police department is investigating the acts as hate crimes, but there have been no concrete leads so far, Dirks said.
He said a lot of locals are supportive of their work, but some don’t believe this vandalism was intentional.
"It’s not like you can just brush it off as something that was an accident. It’s definitely with intention, and we need to work together to stop it,” Dirks said. He considers the incidents to be hate crimes.
Dirks said Centro del Pueblo is considering new measures to protect the garden. He said they're talking to local businesses about installing additional security cameras nearby in an effort to keep each other safe.
"If we create something that protects the garden, maybe it's something that can also protect them, and we can all work together to protect each other."
