Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
Immigration Issues
Kobach Faces More Skeptics Over Controversial History
01 year ago
An interesting article popped up from the Sand Mountain Reporter. It seems a journalist in Albertville, Alabama has been suspicious of our old friend Kris Kobach ever since he conveniently appeared “to help” the town with immigration issues. Ben Shurett’s suspicions are proving to be true as he outlines in his column below:
Tuesday afternoon brought an interesting e-mail from Carol Dingman, a former city council member in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Farmers Branch, you may recall, is one of the cities receiving legal representation from Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a legal authority on illegal immigration.
The City of Albertville is considering hiring Kobach as legal council. He was invited by Mayor Lindsey Lyons and councilman Chuck Ellis to provide insight into remedies dealing with illegal immigration.
Last week in this space, I gave my opinion that “Kobach had not passed my smell test, not yet,” and I still have the same concern. I am pleased that the Albertville Council decided to take more time on this issue before retaining Kobach, if they do at all.
Emotions on that column are strong, both for and against. Both Ellis and Kobach were given space to respond to my opinion on Tuesday.
You may be interested in Ms. Dingman’s opinion, as well. She served three terms on the Farmers Branch City Council, leaving office in 1987. She is the first woman ever elected to that council, has lived in Farmers Branch since 1970 and has been a leader on a number of local committees.
Ms. Dingman wrote, “I live in Farmers Branch, Texas. As a former city council person, I have closely followed our city’s anti-immigration fight since the beginning.
“I have researched Kris Kobach, who was mentioned the first time this issue came up. Our mayor said he was an expert in immigration law who would help the city on a pro bono basis. I have requested copies of all the legal bills the city has accrued since the start of litigation in 2007. We will have paid almost $4 million in legal fees at the end of this fiscal year (Sept 30, 2010).
“Mr. Kobach was paid $100,000 of that. So much for pro bono. Kobach is closely connected with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), whose agenda is to use cities and states to test out their immigration legislation to see if it is constitutional.
“Both of our city’s ordinances were written by Kobach and both were ruled unconstitutional. I believe our city’s taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill for the benefit of a national organization that is never mentioned in any discussion of the issue.”
Read the entire article here.
Neo-Nazi Activities Target Immigrants
01 year ago
by Sarah Viets
in American Identity, American Nazi Party, Center for Immigration Studies, Federation For American Immigration Reform, Glenn Beck, Immigrant Communities, Immigration, Immigration Issues, John Tanton, John Tanton Network, Ku Klux Klan, Ku Klux Klan Members, Nationalist Socialist Movement, Neo Nazi Group, Racial Conflicts
When I first heard about the National Policy Institute’s “Boycott the Glenn Beck Boycott,” I was a little surprised, but just a little. Due to Beck’s racially charged reporting, Color of Change launched a boycott targeting companies financially supporting Beck’s television show.
The National Policy Institute (NPI), a white nationalist organization, believes that in order for “The European identity of the United States and its people [to] be maintained, Federal decentralization and territorial separation should be recognized as legitimate and humane means of preventing and resolving divisive social, ethnic, and racial conflicts.”
Glenn Beck has yet to respond to NPI’s boycott; however, this is an ideal opportunity for mainstream media to finally speak out against Beck’s racially divisive brand of journalism.
The National Policy Institute’s “boycott” comes amid a rash of neo-Nazi activities targeting immigrant communities.
On February 20, forty-eight Ku Klux Klan members covered in white hoods protested against undocumented students marching to Washington D.C to raise awareness of immigrant’s civil rights. The KKK’s Imperial Wizard Jeff Jones stated that “We are here to tell you wake up Georgia and stop the Latino invasion now.” “I know plenty of people who are willing to work and would do anything right now,” according to the Jacksonville newspaper.
The Nationalist Socialist Movement (NSM), a neo-Nazi group, is currently mobilizing its membership to attend its national meeting, “Reclaim the Southwest,” on April 17. In the announcement, the NSM relies on immigration issues to rally its base. The flier for the event says, “Let your voice be heard as we speak out against illegal immigration, Sanctuary Cities”. According toNSM’s webpage, the “rally will be hosted in Southern California this year with the rally on the South Lawn of L.A. City Hall”.
On May 1, the American Nazi Party (ANP) is hosting its National Conference in Detroit, Michigan. Like the Nationalist Socialist Movement, ANP also uses immigration issues to rally its troops. On the front page of ANP’s webpage, the Nazi Party sends its visitors an alarming message by claiming that “America has an estimated 20 MILLION brown, mestizo ILLEGAL ALIENS who have INVADED OUR NATION – this evil”.
The biggest concern for the American Nazi Party (ANP) is the upcoming demographic changes, particularly for white Americans. On the top part of the page, the ANP warns that”only 23% of the American population under the age of 18 is WHITE. Already, four U.S. states are MAJORITY NON-WHITE, and 10% of all counties in America are MAJORITY NON-WHITE. World-wide, White women of child-bearing age comprise only 3% of the earth’s population. Do these FACTS disturb you? They should.”
When the anti-immigrant leader, Shawna Forde, murdered 9-year-old Brisenia Flores, the anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA said nothing. When a gang of teenagers killed Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant in Suffolk County, Rhode Island, the Center for Immigration Studies said nothing. When congressional leaders support hate-crimes legislation, the Federation for American Immigration Reform supports elected officials who oppose hate-crime legislation.
While the Tanton Network portrays itself as credible single-issue anti-immigrant organizations the organization’s founder, John Tanton, sings a different tune. As neo-Nazi groups express concern of whites no longer being the majority, I’m reminded of John Tanton labeling immigration as a demographic issue.
As immigration legislation reform looms, reporters hold America’s moral compass in their pens. Mainstream media continues to say very little about Glenn Beck’s journalistic habits, it also says very little about the John Tanton Network’s ties to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups campaigning on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Center for Immigration Studies and NumbersUSA’s anti-immigrant agenda.
Tanton Memo of the Month – U.S., Inc.
01 year ago
by Sarah Viets
in American Immigration Reform, Anti-immigrant movement, Civil Rights, Demographic Composition, Demographic Issue, East Africa, Face Of The Nation, Federation For American Immigration Reform, Financial Umbrella, Immigrant Organizations, Immigration, Immigration Issues, Immigration Studies, John Tanton, Mak, National Organization, Native Animals, Parochial Schools, Preserving The Environment, Racial Makeup, Scenic America, Social Contract, Support Projects, Umbrella Organization
Tanton at a Social Contract event
This February’s Tanton Memo of the Month* details a list of nearly 30 organizations founded by U.S., Inc., John Tanton’s financial “umbrella” organization. The other day I found this document in our archives. As I plied through a variety of anti-immigrant documents, I stumbled across John Tanton’s description of his “umbrella”, U.S., Inc. For those unfamiliar with John Tanton, he’s the founder of a variety of anti-immigrant organizations, including Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), NumbersUSA, Pro-English, U.S. English, the white nationalist publication The Social Contract, and a variety of environmental and anti-immigrant projects.
Tanton has also financially supported over 50 organizations and individuals who, essentially, campaign on his behalf. Not all of his projects directly relate to immigration issues. Some support projects preserving wildlife, like ProWild, “a project that promoted the ranching of native animals in East Africa, or “Bringing Out the Best in Ourselves”, which “is a series of small grants to local public and parochial schools,” and Scenic Michigan, “an affiliate of the national organization Scenic America.”
Some are familiar with John Tanton from our work on immigration issues. John Tanton orchestrated today’s anti-immigrant movement. Tanton also cares deeply about preserving the environment, but only for a certain sector of the population. As Tanton openly admits in an interview, “Immigration is a demographic issue.” The entry point for Tanton, whether its immigration, the environment, or English-only issues, is the demographic composition of the nation. He may filter his language for a post-civil rights audience, but the message is the same. As white nationalist circles have no problem claiming that a community’s racial makeup is to blame for high rates of poverty in communities of color, Tanton will simply say that immigrants south of the border are a “brain drain” and negatively affect the successes of western civilization. Even though Tanton may not state the cause of this “brain drain,” the fact that he defines immigrants as a “drain” matches perfectly with white nationalists’ perception of people of color.
As you scroll the list of organizations, you will notice that some of these organizations no longer operate directly under U.S., Inc., for example the anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA. This does not mean that NumbersUSA no longer works with John Tanton. In fact, NumbersUSA received financial support from Tanton in 2007. NumbersUSA also signed onto a joint project with U.S., Inc. and the population control organization, Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS), an organization that has also received financial support from the Pioneer Fund, a foundation that financially supports scientific racism.
As immigrant rights supporters push for immigration reform, the John Tanton Network’s participation in our national debate on the issue is not benign. To John Tanton, immigration is a “demographic issue.”
*The John Tanton letters and memos are a public collection at the Bentley Historical Library.