The New Americans Museum reported the appearance of anti-immigrant messages on two signs promoting a Mexican culture exhibit that that has been on display since October.

In the middle of the day, and in plain sight, someone wrote “Too much Immigration! Go back to your country. This one is ours!” and “Overpopulation and crowding by immigration!” in what museum representatives are calling a hate crime.

It was a patron who noticed the signs and reported them to museum staff Saturday morning, after which they were removed, but not before taking pictures to document the incident and file a report with San Diego Police.

Linda Caballero-Sotelo, the Museum’s Executive Director, stated that incident only makes them stronger and that they are “more vigilant than ever” as to their mission to celebrate the contributions and cultural heritage of immigrant communities in the United States.

“An art and culture museum is a space where we have always felt safe, a place for dialogue, for discussion, but for someone to feel emboldened to vandalize or write messages in our signage or information, that’s crossing the line,” she said.

The act was not caught by security cameras, since these are only installed in the galleries and not in public areas such as near the entrance. However, after the incident, the Museum is looking at possibly installing cameras at its entrance to enhance security.

Given that this is the first act of vandalism the museum has suffered since it reopened nearly three years ago, Caballero-Sotelo feels that this crime is a result of the ‘anti-immigrant climate’ arising from the recent presidential election.

“We cannot allow this to continue; it feels like it’s a sign of things to come, which could become more frequent and even harsher,” she added. “We want to shed light on the issue so that it does not continue as it has been allowed to, where people feel like they have the power to make immigrants feel like they have no space in this country when most, if not all of us, are immigrants and multi-generation immigrants.”

The New Americans Museum, located in Liberty Station, reopened in January, 2015 after having been closed for 5 years, with the intention of serving as a space where immigrant contributions to the U.S. could be highlighted.

Ms. Caballero-Sotelo shared that Museum staff will be receiving training on how to deal with immigration-related confrontations or hostilities.

“We are not just a space for displaying art, sharing cultures, for diversity; we are also an important space for discussion, understanding, and awareness, and if that puts us in front of whatever may be, we are willing to talk about the issue, and this is not going to stop us.”