Dallas – A pizza chain with outlets in Lakewood and Aurora has been hit with death threats and hate mail after offering to accept Mexican pesos, becoming another flash point in the nation’s debate over immigrants.
“This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico,” one e-mail read. “Quit catering to the damn illegal Mexicans,” demanded another.
Dallas-based Pizza Patrón said it was not trying to inject itself into a larger political debate about illegal immigration when it posted signs this week saying “Aceptamos pesos” (“We accept pesos”) at its 59 stores across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California.
Pizza Patrón spokesman Andy Gamm said the company was just trying to sell more pizza to its customers, 60 percent of whom are Hispanic.
Wal-Mart, H-E-B supermarkets and other American businesses in towns along the Mexican border accept pesos. And some businesses in New York and Minnesota communities along the northern border accept Canadian dollars.
The difference is that many of the pizza joints are far from the border, in places like metro Denver.
