As Media Matters reported, Allan Wall, a longtime VDARE contributor, spoke with Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy on Monday about immigration. Doocy introduced Wall as a U.S. citizen who lived in Mexico for 17 years while teaching English. At the end of the interview, Doocy mentioned that Wall writes for VDARE but failed to provide any information about the website.

In fact, VDARE features articles by extremists such as Jared Taylor, editor of the racist American Renaissance magazine; Kevin MacDonald, a psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach, who argues that Jews are genetically driven to undermine the power of whites; and the late Sam Francis, who edited the newspaper of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens. Founded in 1999, VDARE raised about $53,000 from donors during an emergency appeal this spring after a major foundation cut off its funding.

Wall’s columns are preoccupied with what he sees as a Hispanic takeover of America. “If present population trends continue, within about three decades, the historical White, English-speaking majority will no longer be the majority, due to mass immigration and the high birthrate of U.S. Hispanics,” he wrote in a March 23, 2009, column. “As a people, we never directly chose this destiny, nor were we even asked about it. But we’re expected to pay for it, and be happy about it, as our nation is transformed into part of Latin America before our very eyes.”

He complained in a Feb. 1, 2007, column that “inter-governmental agreements are moving us closer to some sort of North American Union” — a conspiracy theory popular among nativist extremists. “Today our leaders apparently see no problem in merging us with Mexico, despite the differences between our societies,” Wall wrote.

Recently, he has portrayed as anti-American all who criticize the new Arizona law targeting undocumented immigrants, a law that the SPLC believes will lead to the racial profiling of Latinos. “Anybody who opposes SB 1070 is supporting illegal immigration — and the abolition of America,” he wrote on April 27.

Wall suggests that Hispanic critics of the law, in particular, are somehow disloyal. “Even rich, successful Hispanics, and organized Republican Hispanics, are attacking Arizona’s attempt to protect its own people from illegal immigration,” he wrote. “Don’t these vocal Hispanics, insofar as they self-identify as such, betray a deep-seated resentment of our country?”

Likewise, Wall asserted in an Oct. 21, 2009, column that astronaut Jose Hernandez “clearly does not identify with the United States of America, but with Mexico.” He called Hernandez, the U.S.-born son of migrant farm workers, an “anchor baby astronaut.”

Wall appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss his reaction to Mexican President Filipe Calderon’s criticism last week of the Arizona law. (He thought it was “way out of order” given Mexico’s tough immigration policy.) It’s not the first time that Fox & Friends has used dubious sources while discussing the Arizona law. Last month, the show cited the purported number of murders committed by undocumented immigrants annually. As it turned out, the figure was almost certainly inaccurate; it originated with Human Events contributor Mac Johnson, who based it solely on the murder rates in immigrants’ home countries.

Edwards — the Imperial Klans of America (IKA) founder who defended himself against a successful lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center — was arrested last week on federal drug charges, including methamphetamine distribution.

That was too much for the Supreme White Alliance (SWA), a skinhead group that had been assisting the IKA with its annual hate rock gathering, Nordic Fest. Less than a week before this year’s Nordic Fest — planned for Memorial Day weekend at Edwards’ compound in Dawson Springs, Ky. — the SWA announced it would no longer be involved with the event. “The Supreme White Alliance drops it’s [sic] support of the Imperial Klans of America, Ron Edwards, and Nordic Fest due to current events,” SWA Vice President Richard Kidd, a former IKA member, wrote on Sunday. “Even though innocent until proven guilty, in order to preserve our reputation as a club for our members, the SWA has always been a drug free club and always will be. This is not intended to disrespect Ron Edwards or the IKA, but we will not be affiliated with them until all legal charges have been dropped.” 

The SWA, which previously considered its leader to be Edwards’ son, Steven, wasn’t the only group to distance itself from Nordic Fest. Blood and Honour USA, a coalition of several skinhead groups, posted a similar message Saturday on a web forum: “After discussions among the various crew heads in the US that make up Blood and Honour USA, we have collectively decided that at this time, given the amount of evidence — not only that which led to his being charged — but also that of individuals that have witnessed behaviours of this type — that Blood and Honour USA is pulling any and all support from the Nordicfest music festival and also any and all support of the IKA.”

Blood and Honour had stern words for Edwards, who was released Friday on a $25,000 bond. “Drugs, drug users, and those that market them cannot and will not be tolerated – regardless of who the persons are that are involved. Indeed it is even worse when someone that has held themselves up as a standard of white nationalism becomes caught up in this ****** nonsense.”

In addition, Nordic Fest participants won’t be able to advertise on Stormfront, the leading white supremacist web forum. Richard Lindstrom, a Stormfront administrator and former board member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, announced the ban on Saturday.

Ron Edwards has other legal woes: In 2008, the Southern Poverty Law Center won a $2.5 million judgment for a teenager who was beaten by IKA members. Edwards, one of two defendants in that lawsuit, is appealing the verdict.

In a message on its website today, the SWA sounded a more empathetic note. “Drugs are a weakness that we as Aryan Warriors must overcome,” wrote National Treasurer James Reeves. “The effects of Meth, speed, cocaine, marijuana, etc. have taken a toll on our country and our people that if not stopped now, may not be stoppable in the future. It is tearing families apart at the seams. If anyone does have a problem, seek proffesional [sic] help or help from one of us. We are a family and we are here to help each other.”

Ron Edwards, the 50-year-old former leader of the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), appeared in U.S. District Court in Owensboro, Ky., today on charges of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of controlled substances, including methamphetamine, according to court documents. He was also charged with possession of a firearm to further a drug trafficking crime. Edwards’ girlfriend, Christina “Chrissy” Ann Gillette, was charged with possession with intent to distribute and distribution of methamphetamine.

The drug charges will likely further damage Edwards’ reputation in the white supremacist movement, where some supporters have accused him of keeping donations meant for his Klan group.

Edwards, of Dawson Springs, Ky., led a particularly dangerous Klan group that welcomes violent skinheads and declares on its website that it “hates Muds, spics, kikes and niggers.” In an effort to cripple the organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center sued Edwards in 2007, after members of his Klan group were convicted of attacking a 16-year-old U.S. citizen of Panamanian descent because they thought he was an “illegal spic.”

Edwards showed up to a deposition with the words “Fuck S.P.L.C.” tattooed on his head. In November 2008, a jury awarded a $2.5 million judgment to the victim; the verdict is currently under appeal. Last year, the group had five groups in four states, down from 23 chapters in 17 states in 2006. Though smaller, the IKA remains active and continues to hold Nordic Fest, its annual hate rock gathering held on Memorial Day weekend at its compound and headquarters in Dawson Springs.

An FBI affidavit indicates that Edwards’ was allegedly dealing drugs shortly after his civil trial in Brandenburg, Ky. The affidavit gives the following account: On Jan. 6, 2009, Edwards pocketed $800 after selling 120 prescription Lortab pain pills to an undercover officer during a meeting in Bardston, Ky. (The pills contained hydrocodone, a controlled substance.) During the drug sale, Edwards kept a semi-automatic pistol concealed under his leg and then behind his back. On Aug. 13, 2009, Gillette, Edwards’ girlfriend, sold methamphetamine for $300 to a “cooperating witness” who met with her in Central City, Ky. On Sept. 2, 2009, in Dawson Springs, Edwards did the same, earning $500. And on Jan. 16, 2010, Edwards and the cooperating witness met again in Dawson Springs, where Edwards gave the witness 70 Lortab pills in exchange for $560.

Both Edwards and Gillette were released today on $25,000 bond issues. The conditions of release require them to remain under home detention and to avoid contact with each other. They are scheduled to appear in court again on June 24.

The Coalition for the Future American Worker is trying to capitalize on momentum from the harsh new Arizona law targeting undocumented immigrants, according to a news release from coalition member Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). The 10-member coalition, which emphasizes immigration’s purported negative effects on American workers, includes two organizations that the Southern Poverty Law Center considers hate groups: the American Immigration Control Foundation and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR’s webmaster, Karl Filippini, serves as the registrant and administrator of the coalition’s website.

The ads — which are running in markets nationwide in addition to Arizona — contend that undocumented immigrants are taking away jobs from Americans at a time of high unemployment. In one ad, an unshaven man sits at a dining room table while a woman holding a child briefly appears in the background. “The president is doing next to nothing about 8 million illegal foreign workers while millions of Americans are jobless,” the man says. “I know. I’m one of them.” In another ad, a man wearing a sports jacket tells viewers that he doesn’t need 30 seconds to explain how to put Americans back to work because the answer is simple: Start enforcing immigration laws. Both ads urge people to call the White House to convey that message.

The ads are misleading, however.  Most scholars haven’t found a link between immigration —legal or illegal — and job loss, according to an article published last week by Factcheck.org, a nonpartisan project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. “Study after study has shown that immigrants grow the economy, expanding demand for goods and services that the foreign-born workers and their families consume, and thereby creating jobs. There is even broad agreement among economists that while immigrants may push down wages for some, the overall effect is to increase average wages for American-born workers.”

The nativist coalition has rolled out other ad campaigns in an effort to influence immigration policy. In 2007, for instance, the coalition ran an ad featuring a couple sitting at a kitchen table with a baby crying in the background. The husband tells his wife that he failed to get a job because “they hired all foreign workers.” The coalition also uses other approaches. During a 2004 Texas congressional race, it ran television ads that included images of dark-skinned men loitering on street corners and running from police cars. The ads were intended to help defeat candidates who supported guest-worker programs and other immigration reforms. Ultimately, however, both the Republican and Democratic candidates denounce the ads as racially inflammatory and asked that television stations not run them.

Ironically, the Coalition for the Future American Worker counts only one union among its members: The Communications Workers of America, Local 4250. By contrast, the AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 national and international labor unions, has called for the repeal of the Arizona law, which gives police broad powers to detain those suspected of being in the country without documents and is widely seen as the nation’s harshest measure against illegal immigration. The AFL-CIO said the law will lead to racial profiling and “severely undermines workers’ rights.”

We didn’t think so, until the Miss USA contest showed that Muslim-bashing author Daniel Pipes and racist radio host James Edwards do indeed share some common ground. The men suggested on their respective blogs that 24-year-old Rima Fakih of Dearborn, Mich., captured the pageant crown on Sunday because of her Muslim religion (Pipes) or her Arab ethnicity (Edwards).

Edwards, the “Political Cesspool” host who has claimed that white women are physically superior, griped that he wasn’t surprised by Fakih’s win. “It’s pretty much a federal law now that beauty pageant winners have to be non-white,” he wrote in his Monday blog post, “and now that Arabs are the latest ‘oppressed minority,’ they’re finally getting their place at the top of the quota totem pole.”

Meanwhile, Pipes — whose resume includes posts at elite universities, a stint at the State Department, and a presidential appointment to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace — made a remarkably similar point. In an article titled “Affirmative Action in Beauty Contests?” posted on his website Sunday, Pipes posted the names (and photos) of six Muslim women who had won pageants in America and Europe over the past five years.

“They are all attractive,” he conceded, “but this surprising frequency of Muslims winning beauty pageants makes me suspect an odd form of affirmative action. My suspicion is borne out by the selection of Anisah Rasheed as Miss A&T at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University.” Pipes went on to quote from an article about Rasheed’s coronation that described her tiara sitting atop her hijab, the headscarf traditionally worn by Muslim women. (None of the other Muslim contest winners in Pipes’ article were pictured wearing the hijab.)

In an update posted Monday on his website, Pipes shared three non-critical responses from readers who wrote to him about the article. They included the following item, which Pipes presented without comment: “No surprise here. Affirmative action was first applied in beauty contests for black women to win in the 1980s, then it was the turn of Latin, brown skinned women, and now it’s Muslims. That’s why most people ignore these rigged ‘events.’ They are money losers and require controversy.”

Elsewhere, however, bloggers were taken aback by Pipes’ article. David Weigel, who writes the “Right Now” blog for The Washington Post, had this response: “Wow.” A spokeswoman for the Miss USA pageant told The Daily Beast, an online publication, that she didn’t believe Fakih’s victory had “anything to do with affirmative action.” (Actually, though she’s from a Shiite family, Fakih attended Catholic schools growing up and celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths with her family, according to The Associated Press.)

Late Monday, Pipes posted another update dismissing the outcry provoked by his blog item. “Somebody doth protest too much,” he wrote.

Pipes’ post wasn’t the only one to suggest that Fakih benefited because of her religion. “I just wonder if this whole contest is rigged,” anti-Islam blogger Debbie Schlussel wrote on Sunday. “I have a feeling that it is. Clearly, there is affirmative action for Muslim women in beauty pageants and other such ‘contests.’” In a blog post Tuesday, Schlussel called Fakih “Miss Hezbollah” and stated that “her family is chock full of top Hezbollah terrorists.”

We thank Hatewatch reader Mason Green for the tip that inspired this blog post.