Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
Immigration Reform Law Institute
Bad Week for Nativist Attorney Kris Kobach
01 year ago
Following up on widespread claims that anti-immigrant attorney Kris Kobach was being paid large sums by the Maricopa County Sheriff’’s Office, Stephen Lemons of Feathered Bastard got a hold of the official contract between MCSO and Kobach.
Kris Kobach, the far right-wing nativist attorney Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s hired to train the MCSO in immigration matters, is receiving $300 per hour, plus expenses, including airline tickets to and from Arizona.
Though Arpaio’s Chief Deputy David Hendershott surmised in his recent deposition in the civil rights lawsuit Melendres vs. Arpaio that Kobach was making anywhere from $250-$300 per hour, to be paid from the MCSO’s RICO slush fund, I just got the official contract with Kobach from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Read the entire article here.
Another blog exposed Kobach’s nativist-for-hire racket and losing tendencies this week. Krazykriskobach.com is dedicated to ensuring “that Kris Kobach does not ever hold an elected office again. We are not a group of Republicans, nor are we partisan Democrats. We’re simply a group of attentive Kansans literally sickened by the thought of Mr. Kobach ever collecting another dime of salary from Kansas taxpayers.”
The last few months have been less than ideal for Kris Kobach, Kansas’ Kraziest politico. First, news surfaced that Kobach’s tenure at the Kansas GOP was marred by serious mismanagement that may eventually result in some hefty fines for the new Administration.
Shortly after that, Kobach’s quest to enrich his personal finances by suing state governments suffered another embarrassing defeat when he lost a major ruling in Idaho. This week brought a fresh blow to Kris’ personal tax-payer funded bank account, when a City Council in Albertville, Alabama decided to pass on Kobach’s legal services.
Why? Because he is too damn pricey, and his track record is awful. One City Council member describes him as being only “46 percent accurate”. That’s like flipping a coin except you have to pay $300,000 to hire a lawyer employed by a hate group and your odds are worse.
The Albertville City Council determined that Kobach’s inexplicably expensive legal services were not worth it to the taxpayers. Which isn’t surprising, because he’s running a racket.
In a post last month, krazykriskobach.com wrote:
Kris Kobach has turned his anti-immigration platform into a quest for personal profit. By way of examples, he was paid more than $100,000 for a failed lawsuit in Pennsylvania, and up to $275,000 for his role in a Missouri lawsuit.
If that sounds like a racket, keep in mind that it costs the taxpayers a lot more to defend against his legal antics. Kansas taxpayers personally had to foot a $175,000 tab to defend against another one of his lawsuits in 2004 (he lost this one too).
Yikes! Looks like the public is starting to put the pieces together on Kobach. The big picture seems to be that of a scummy politician making gobs of money off hate.
Anti-immigrant Movement Attacks American Property Owners
01 year ago
by Jill Garvey
in Apartment Owners, Center for American Unity, Economy, Extremist Groups, Federation For American Immigration Reform, Immigrant Communities, Immigration, Immigration Laws, Immigration Reform Law Institute, John Tanton, Peter Brimelow, Politics, VDARE, White Nationalists, White Supremacist
The anti-immigrant movement wants private property owners to enforce immigration laws, and be punished when they don’t. It’s shocking the lengths some groups have gone to in order to pressure, intimidate or force ordinary citizens into complying with their anti-immigrant activities.
Leading this effort is Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), the legal arm of the John Tanton Network. IRLI’s primary purpose is to push legal causes that unfairly target immigrant communities. IRLI works with extremist anti-immigrant groups and leaders to push anti-immigrant ordinances at the municipal level. In 1985, John Tanton launched IRLI, but made sure he kept it firmly under the control of Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has tried to portray itself as a mainstream organization despite its links to extremist groups, including white nationalists.
IRLI “was structured in such a way that it could operate under FAIR’S tax exemption but have its own board, appointed initially by FAIR’S board,” Tanton says in an oral history. “We tried to keep control of IRLI by making sure that the FAIR board was the ultimate authority in appointing the IRLI board.”
In New Jersey, IRLI brags about bringing a federal civil racketeering lawsuit against apartment owners for “illegal harboring” in 2008. In Pennsylvania, IRLI has persistently tried to pass anti-harboring ordinances and cost the city of Hazelton an untold amount of money in the process.
These are just a few examples of IRLI’s efforts to set a model for local legislation that will make it impossible to rent an apartment or give someone a ride in a car without first confirming their citizenship. This will make for some very serious divisions in our communities. Divisions that would make John Tanton’s white supremacist friends very happy.
Friends like VDARE, the white supremacist online publication founded by Peter Brimelow and supported by his foundation Center for American Unity. This 2006 brief illustrates Center for American Unity’s collaboration with John Tanton Network organizations. The Center for American Unity considers multiculturalism a threat to American heritage.
Then there is the question of who will be targeted next. Will taxi drivers be sued for picking up customers? Will school bus drivers have to defend themselves in court if they drive undocumented children to school? What about motel owners in these communities or ambulance drivers? I wouldn’t put it past The John Tanton Network to do whatever is necessary to divide communities along racial lines. One of FAIR’s state contacts, Minnesotans for Immigration Reform, has already taken these activities to the fringe. It recently promoted a very extreme website to supporters. The website asserts that “aiding and abetting” undocumented immigrants is a felony, and offers visitors the opportunity to “report” their landlord. Aside from all the blatantly inaccurate information contained on the site, it is clearly advocating for extreme vigilantism.
The anti-immigrant movement claims to be protecting regular, working Americans, but its actions say otherwise.
Americans value the freedom to prosper. And the freedom to do with their property as they see fit. Threatening property owners with lawsuits to further a political agenda is underhanded and hinders the economic prosperity of average Americans.
Sheriff Arpaio Joins Forces with Anti-immigrant Attorney
01 year ago
by Sarah Viets
in American Renaissance, Civil Rights, Federation For American Immigration Reform, Gop Candidate, Hate Group, Immigration, Immigration Reform Law Institute, Joe Arpaio, John Tanton, Kris Kobach, Maricopa County, Politics, Sheriff Arpaio, Southern Poverty Law Center, Wayne Lutton, White Nationalists
Joe Arpaio has found a new friend who is just as controversial as the sheriff himself. Kris Kobach and Arpaio appeared together at a press conference yesterday afternoon to unveil a new program that trains officers to target immigrants. Kobach, a GOP candidate for Secretary of State in Kansas, works for the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI). According IRLI’s website, it is the “public interest law affiliate of the Federation for American Immigration Reform” aka FAIR, designated as a hate group by the civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center.
Before detailing FAIR’s controversial relationships with white nationalists, let’s first examine Kobach’s colleague at IRLI, Mike Hethmon. Hethmon has worked with John Tanton (the founder of FAIR) for nearly nine years. Just last fall he attended Tanton’s annual Writers Workshop. In fact, Hethmon began his “legal overview” presentation by personally thanking “Dr. Tanton for hosting and sustaining what is now I believe 33 years of the Writers Workshop.” Hethmon also added that he has “had the privilege of attending for several years.”
What is even more disturbing is Hethmon’s association with two other attendees: Peter Brimelow, the founder of VDARE, a website dedicated to “race-betterment,” and Wayne Lutton, editor of The Social Contract, a quarterly white nationalist journal published by John Tanton. According to a recent article Lutton also writes for the anti-Semitic publication Occidental Quarterly and was scheduled to give a presentation on immigration issues during an anti-Black annual conference sponsored by American Renaissance.
After reviewing the long list of these troubling relationships, it’s hard to tell if immigration is the only issue of concern for Kris Kobach and the Immigration Reform Law Institute.
But the Immigration Reform Law Institute’s attorneys don’t just rub elbows with hate groups and far-right extremists, both Kobach and Hethmon have received significant financial support from FAIR. According to tax documents, FAIR has paid Hethmon over $400,000 and Kobach $125,000. In 2004, Kobach also accepted $10,000 from the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC, formerly known as the FAIR PAC. Perhaps IRLI’s legal counselors are merely following in the footsteps of their financial backers.
Arpaio’s office has not disclosed where it got the funds to pay Kris Kobach. Maybe the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is receiving a little help in that department.
According to several documents, John Tanton, the founder of FAIR, solicited and successfully received over 1.2 million from the Pioneer Fund. The Pioneer Fund is a foundation committed to eugenics and “scientific racism” used to justify the crimes of Nazi Germany.
FAIR also hired members of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization originally developed to fight integration during the Civil Rights Movement. When civil rights organizations asked FAIR to explain its controversial relationships, particularly its funding sources, FAIR’s current president Dan Stein stated, “I don’t give a sh*t what they do with their money, my job is to get every dime of Pioneer’s money.”
In 1989, John Tanton wrote, “I have all along seen the immigration battle as really a skirmish in a wider war . . .” Since that time critics of Tanton have worried that his “wider war” is one steeped in racism and white nationalism.
Yesterday’s development should alarm Maricopa County residents. Kobach’s ongoing relationship with the Immigration Reform Law Institute and FAIR is disturbing. According to a Kansas City Star article, Kobach blamed his loss of a 2004 Senate race on a series of ads “that charged Kobach with associating with groups that had white supremacist ties.” Kobach said he underestimated the ads’ effect. Perhaps he thought Kansas voters would support a candidate who works for a hate group. Gratefully, he was wrong.
If voters in Kansas stood tall against bigotry, so should Maricopa County.