When the Extreme becomes Mainstream

There are probably no two people in the media who are more associated with the immigration issue than CNN's Lou Dobbs and NBC's Pat Buchanan. Both have revitalized their careers by becoming self-proclaimed experts, and have probably logged more media face-time discussing the issue than any two people in American. Recently, they met on Dobbs' show to discuss their common concerns:

Video Link

Yet if one were to compare some of the rhetoric used in the segment:

DOBBS: And congratulations on the new book, a best seller doing great.

Let me turn to the very first thing. The first chapter, declaring that the American century is over. I would like to share this with our viewers. "America is indeed coming apart, decomposing, and that the likelihood of our survival as one nation through mid century is improbable and impossible if America continues on her current course. For we are on a path to national suicide." My God, I don't think you could be more pessimistic.

BUCHANAN: Well that is where we are headed, Lou. As I write in the last chapter, we can still have a second American century. But look what is happening. You've got 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in the country, 38 million immigrants. The melting pot that turned our grandfathers and great grandfathers into Americans is cracked, broken and rejected as an instrument of cultural genocide. You have that going on in the country at the same time that the dollar is going down, the manufacturing base is being exported, you're overextended abroad with a smaller army than we had in 1939. All of these things are hitting at once and I don't get the awareness of the gravity of the crises comes at us.

…

DOBBS: We're back with Pat Buchanan, author of the important new book, which I highly recommend, "Day of Reckoning." Let's deal with an issue on the minds of Americans. That is the issue of illegal immigration. What has to be done?

BUCHANAN: Well first thing, you've got to secure the border. If we don't do it, it won't exist anymore in ten years. You've got to crack down on businesses that hire illegals. You've got to cut off the magnets by ending social welfare benefits as they voted to do Arizona. You've got to end this absurd practice that if someone comes to the United States and has a baby the next day it is automatically a citizen for life and entitled to a whole lifetime of benefits. I think you need a time-out on legal immigration of about 250,000 a year. This is the sea into which illegals move. We need another time out to get the melting pot up and running again.

DOBBS: What about the 12 to 20 million illegals in this country?

BUCHANAN: Start the deportations with gang members, felons, scofflaws and you start with felons and people who are drunk drivers and others. Then you start the process by cracking down on business, removing the magnets, they'll go home. What draws them here is free education, welfare, good jobs, good paying jobs much better than in Mexico. Basically business and the welfare, the social safety net draws them here.
CNN

With these quotes from hate groups complied back in the spring of 2001 by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

"America's culture, customs and language are under assault from foreigners who come to live here and, instead of learning the American way of life, choose to impose their own alien cultures, languages, and institutions upon us... . [E]thnic cleansing ... may seem a harsh term to apply here in America, but it accurately describes the expulsion of Americans from their communities by illegal aliens."
— AMERICAN IMMIGRATION CONTROL FOUNDATION

"[S]ince that time [about 1950], Western culture faces a growing and potentially fatal crisis: the widespread folly of believing that Hmong and Haitians can carry that culture forward as meaningfully as Europeans."
— AMERICAN RENAISSANCE

"These men [ranchers who capture illegal border-crossers at gunpoint] are the true heroes of our troubled times! Every illegal alien they halt is one less that will go on our welfare rolls, overcrowd our schools, bring in more drugs to poison our kids, or rob, rape and murder another innocent American citizen."
— CALIFORNIA COALITION FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

"[T]he meaning of this massive increase in non-white and non-Western populations groups within U.S. borders is that the United States is not only ceasing to be a majority white nation but also is ceasing to be a nation that is culturally part of Western civilization."
— COUNCIL OF CONSERVATIVE CITIZENS

"America becomes darker — racially darker — every year, and that is the direct result of our government's immigration policy. ... We White people, we descendants of the European immigrants who built America, will be a minority in our own country. ... [M]alicious aliens [European Jews] came into our land and ... spread spiritual poison among our people, so that our spirits became corrupted and our minds became confused."
— NATIONAL ALLIANCE

"Unless stopped now, massive illegal immigration from the Third World will surely make America more like the Third World than the nation of our forefathers. ... Forced integration and unrestrained immigration destroy schools, neighborhoods, cities and ultimately nations."
— NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WHITE PEOPLE

"[T]he very underpinnings of America are being gnawed away by hordes of aliens who are transforming America into a land where we, the descendants of the men and women who founded America, will walk as strangers... . Unless we act now ... we will be helpless to halt the accelerating dispossession of our folk."
— NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR EUROPEAN AMERICAN RIGHTS

"America is not just a geographical entity. It is a nation with certain values. I'd go beyond the proposal of a zero immigration moratorium and say we should begin deportation. Deportation now!"
— THE SOCIAL CONTRACT PRESS

"The Mexican culture is based on deceit. Chicanos and Mexicanos lie as a means of survival. Fabricating false IDs is just another extension of that culture ... [which] condones everything from the most lowly misdemeanor to murder in the highest levels of government."
— VOICES OF CITIZENS TOGETHER

"[Even] beyond immigration, legal or illegal, the very numbers of non-Whites already here, and their high birth rate, are enough to plunge North America into a banana republic status within two decades or less. ... [After America is split up into racial mini-states, if] an area like Florida wanted to accept the dregs of the Caribbean, let them, with the understanding that the second this mud flood oozed into the sovereign state of Georgia, it would be 'lock and load' time."
— WHITE ARYAN RESISTANCE

compliled spring, 2001 by SPLC

It becomes obvious that ideas that were once relegated to the vilest fringes of the extreme far-right have become mainstream. Note just how many of the sentiments expressed in these statements by hate groups can now be heard almost daily coming from both the media and politicians. Republican politicians, the right-wing noised machine, and now the main stream media, have managed to shift the whole national debate, and possibly the nation itself, to a point where this kind of eliminationist rhetoric is now the accepted norm.

This shift can be seen quite clearly in this segment from the O'Rielly Factor, where Sen. John McCain, discussing comprehensive immigration reform legislation, allows O'Rielly to lecture him unchallenged about the supposed "liberal plan" to "change the complexion" of America by breaking down "the white, Christian, male power structure".

Video Link

Back in March, 2006 The Nation examined this shift to the far right through the eyes of former grand wizard of the KKK, David Duke.
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Relaxing in the Hyatt lobby, (David) Duke reminisced about his glory days. "I was the first candidate who ran against affirmative action. And I predated Clinton on welfare reform," Duke told me. He rehashed his controversial term as a Louisiana state representative and his losing 1990 Republican gubernatorial candidacy, in which he captured more than 60 percent of the white vote. He happily recalled his 1977 Klan Border Watch, when he and seven other Klansmen drove a few sedans in circles along the California-Mexico border, waving a shotgun in the moonlight while dozens of reporters in tow tried not to crash their cars into one another.

Back in those good old times, in 1982, explaining the Klan's anti-immigrant advocacy, Duke said, "Every new immigrant adds to our crime problems, our welfare rolls and unemployment of American citizens.... We are being invaded in the southwest as if a foreign army were coming over the border.... They're going to take more and more hard-earned money from the productive middle class in the form of taxes and social programs." And Duke called for the deportation of all undocumented immigrants and harsh penalties for businesses that employ them. "I'd make the Mexican-American border almost like a Maginot line," he said, referring to the militarized barrier France constructed between itself, Italy and Germany after World War I.

At the time, Duke was widely dismissed as little more than a turbo-charged version of the paranoid style--"the Klan's answer to Robert Redford," as reporter Patty Sims described him in 1978. But today his anti-immigration rhetoric sounds not so remote from one of top-rated CNN host Lou Dobbs's fulminations during his daily "Broken Borders" segment. Duke's Klan Border Watch, meanwhile, served as the forerunner and inspiration of the Dobbs-touted Minutemen groups that have proliferated from the Mexico border to Herndon, Virginia, the city that hosted the American Renaissance conference, where disgruntled locals hold regular protests outside a day-labor center. Under pressure from Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo, chair of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, and with sponsorship from House Judiciary Committee chair James Sensenbrenner (tough-talking heir to the Kotex fortune), the Republican-dominated House has approved a bill that makes it a felony to be in the United States illegally, mandates punishment for providing aid or shelter to undocumented immigrants and allocates millions for the construction of an iron wall between the United States and Mexico. Duke may have fallen short on the national stage, but his old notions have gained a new life through new political figures.

The Nation, 3/23/2006

In the 20 months since The Nation first published this article things have only gotten worse. As every Republican presidential candidate falls over themselves trying to race further and further to the right, David Duke must be grinning ear to ear.

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Huckabee's New Strategy - Embrace Hatred

Today, two important events demonstrated just how far to the right the Republican Presidential candidates are shifting on the immigration issue. The first was the endorsement of Iowa front runner, Mike Huckabee, by Minutemen founder, Jim Gilchrist –not so much for the fact that Gilchrist is once again trying to thrust his agenda center stage – but rather Huckabee's willingness to embrace it.

On stage at an event in Council Bluffs with Gilchrist ,Huckabee characterized the anti- immigrant vigilante as "a person who just got fed up with what he saw as a breakdown of his own government.…Since October of 2004 he's been one of the leading voices in this country trying to bring sanity to an issue that's spiraled.." adding:

"Frankly, Jim I've got to tell you there were times in the early days of the Minutemen I thought what are these guys doing, what are they about," Huckabee said. "I confess I owe you an apology." He said of Gilchrist, "nobody can question his commitment to his country."

Washington Post

The second event was an announcement by the leading civil rights watchdog group, The Southern Poverty Law Center, that the parent organization of the Washington think tank that's been credited with formulating Huckabee's new tough nine-point plan on immigration has been officially placed on their list of Hate Groups operating in the US.

In a statement issued today, the SPLC asserted that due to its ties to know white supremacists and promotion of racist ideas, the nation's leading anti-immigrant organization, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), would be placed on the Hate Group list. It joins other radical groups like the Neo-Nazi, National Alliance, and the KKK, who also share the same classification.

The country's leading anti-immigration organization — whose leaders have testified repeatedly before Congress and are frequently quoted in the media — has ties to known racists and a long track record of bigotry, according to a new report released today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

The group, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR):

• is the creation of a man who operates a racist publishing company and has compared immigrants to "bacteria;"



• has employed members of white supremacist groups in key positions;



• has promoted racist conspiracy theories; and



• has accepted more than $1 million from the Pioneer Fund, a racist foundation devoted to eugenics and to proving a connection between race and IQ.

The SPLC today added FAIR to its list of hate groups operating in the United States.

"FAIR's position on immigration is rooted more in its anti-Latino and anti-Catholic beliefs than in policy concerns," said Mark Potok, the director of the SPLC's project that monitors hate group activity. "Remarkably, it has still managed to infiltrate the mainstream and shape the immigration debate in this country."

FAIR helped defeat federal immigration reform earlier this year and has played a key role in fueling the fierce, anti-immigrant backlash in the United States. It was founded in 1979 by John Tanton, a man who has compared immigrants to bacteria and warned that high birthrates will allow Latinos to take over America. Still a member of FAIR's board, Tanton also operates The Social Contract Press, listed as a hate group for many years by the SPLC because of its anti-Latino and white supremacist writings.
SPLC

FAIR's ties to Huckabee come through its public policy wing; The Center for Immigration Studies, which the former Arkansas Governor has widely credited for the formulation of his new "get tough" immigration policy. In fact he pretty much just lifted the whole thing from a proposal by CIS executive director Mark Krikorian.

The nine-point immigration plan released Friday by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came with a footnote:

"Note: This plan is partially modeled on a proposal by Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies." That proposal by the conservative anti-illegal immigration activist was published in the National Review in May 2005.

Not only is Huckabee's plan strikingly similar to the magazine piece – in some cases, it contains exact quotations copied over from the article

CNN

Its been well documented that FAIR, CIS and a network of other leading anti-immigrant groups are all in fact not only connected, but were all founded and under the leadership of one man; John Tanton, who for over 25 years has been the driving force behind the ant-immigrant movement. The groups share funding, leadership, and in some cases offices.

in 1985, FAIR would spin off yet another major Tanton organization — the Center for Immigration Studies, which presented itself as an impartial think tank and later even sought to distance itself from the organization that had birthed it.

Today, the Center regularly dispatches experts to testify on Capitol Hill, and last year it was awarded a six-figure research contract by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SPLC

SPLC on Federation for American Immigration Reform

The fact that Huckabee has chosen to align himself with CIS, Krikorian, and FAIR is not surprising. FAIR, through its networks of organizations, has become a leading political force in anti-immigrant politics. During the last debate over immigration reform legislation, FAIR affiliate, Numbers USA, was credited with a campaign that generated over a million faxes in opposition to the bill. Obviously with the adoption of Kirkorian's immigration policies Huckabee is hoping to put the full weight of the Tanton network behind his campaign.

This "new" Mike Huckabee is a far cry from the preacher turned politician who a few years ago called anti-immigrant legislation "Un-Christian"

Gov. Mike Huckabee Thursday denounced a bill by Sen. Jim Holt that would deny state benefits to illegal immigrants as un-Christian, un-American, irresponsible and anti-life.

… Even if benefits to people who are in the U.S illegally could be stopped, "I don't understand how a practicing Christian can turn his back on a child from this or any other state," Huckabee said.

… The bill is modeled after a similar law in Arizona and supported by the newly formed group Protect Arkansas NOW. The group's chairman is Joe McCutchen

… Huckabee said he took exception to characterization of immigrants in the bill and by its supporters as exploiters of social programs. "They pay sales taxes on their groceries," Huckabee said. "They pay fuel taxes. If they're using a fake Social Security number, they're paying Social Security taxes and will never receive any benefit. It would be closer to the truth to say they're subsidizing Joe McCutchen and Jim Holt more than the other way around.

Arkansas News Bureau, 1/28/05

But then again, the old Mike Huckabee could never have gotten through the Republican primary process …not in the current toxic climate where hate groups, racist vigilantes, and politicians willingly join forces to pander and promote hatred and fear.

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The Real OC, Redux

Back in the fall of 2006, after two men arrested for hate crimes committed at a Laguna Beach day laborers work center were freed by that city's District Attorney's Office, many voiced concerns about the increasing level of violence directed at the immigrant and Latino community in what has quickly become ground zero in the war over immigration: Orange County California.

But more importantly, it raised serious questions about who was actually behind this increased violence.

While certainly no hotbed for liberal thinking, increasing evidence seems to point to a covert campaign by small group of influential residents, community leaders, and some of the nation's most virulent hate-groups to fan the fires of hatred in order to make OC the most immigrant unfriendly place in the nation.

Later this week, the Laguna Beach day laborer center will once again be drawn into the national spotlight when yet another lawsuit filed by anti-immigrant groups will attempt to shutter its doors. But perhaps more important than what goes on in the judge's chambers, is what's gone on behind the scenes to make this lawsuit possible in the first place.

When most people hear the words Laguna Beach, they picture sun-bleached beautiful people, with fabulous lifestyles living in homes tucked into hilltops overlooking an endless ocean. But just underneath the surface of this scenic beachfront community, a raging conflict is taking place.

Orange County, of which Laguna Beach is part, has quickly become ground zero in a covert campaign by some of the nation's most extreme groups to push an agenda of racism and hate. On any given weekend, members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, Save Our State, California Coalition for Immigration Reform, or the Minutemen will travel from all over the state to converge on Laguna Beach and other OC communities, bringing with them their extreme views on race and immigration.

For some, these people are viewed as interlopers, agent provocateurs who want to use Laguna Beach as a test area to further their cause, or opportunists, using the town in hopes of launching themselves into the national spotlight. But the intruders may not have been working entirely alone. Many now believe they've been enabled by a small group of residents working behind the scenes to make the affluent beach community into ground zero in the war on immigration.

Welcome to the real OC



Those within the immigrant's rights and Latino activist community have taken to referring to Orange County California as the region "behind the orange curtain" …and with good reason. It has long been a breeding ground and test area for many of the most strident anti-immigration activist in the nation.

Orange County, a staunchly conservative region with a long history of groundbreaking initiatives designed to drive out Hispanic immigrants. "Orange County is the most Mexican-hating county in the country," says Orange County Weekly syndicated columnist and investigative editor Gustavo Arellano.

The county is home to Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist, whose "citizens border patrol" now has chapters nationwide, and to the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), a major force behind 1994's Proposition 187, which sought to deprive undocumented immigrants of social services, health care, and public education. CCIR's official ballot argument described Proposition 187 as "the first giant stride in ultimately ending the ILLEGAL ALIEN invasion." The bulk of Proposition 187 was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge years after it was passed by 59% of California voters, but it has nevertheless served as the model for similar measures in other states, notably Arizona's Proposition 200.
SouthernPoverty Law Center

Like most of Orange County, Laguna Beach has been dragged into the immigration wars. The situation revolves around a controversial day laborer hiring center set up by the city seven years ago to provide a safe and controlled way for laborers and those who want to provide them with work to do business. But the center has proven to be far from a safe haven. Over the years it's been the subject of numerous protests and counter protests, many attracting outside agitators that have brought with them increasing levels of violence.

In last years incident, two laborers were injured when they were hit by a car driven by two men yelling racial epithets while intentionally racing through the center on Sept. 17, 2006 trying to hit those waiting to find a days work.

Two men - one from Laguna Beach and one from Laguna Niguel - were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and a hate crime in connection with the incident, Det. Sgt. Darin Lenyi said

Lenyi said the suspects, Dennis Kaptilniy, 18, of Laguna Beach, and Artem Soloviev, 23, of Laguna Niguel, were held on $500,000 bond.

The incident began at 9:12 a.m. when the two suspects drove into the labor center in a Toyota Corolla, and spoke with one man, apparently seeking to hire him, Lenyi said.

When the laborer declined to be hired at the price offered, a confrontation and a physical fight ensued, in which the laborer was punched in the face, Lenyi alleged. The two suspects then left in their car, police said.

The suspects returned shortly thereafter and allegedly sped through the center, hitting two people and causing minor injuries, knocking down a tree, and damaging a fence and a bench, Lenyi said. The suspects also allegedly shouted racial epithets during the attack.

The suspects drove through the center "a few times, trying to hit people and intentionally trying to run people over," Lenyi alleged.

The Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot

48 hours later Kaptilniy and Soloviev were set free with no charges filed. According to Susan Schroeder of the Orange County District Attorney's Office the case would be "sent back for further examination" and called on anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward to supply further information - despite numerous eye-witnesses to the event and detailed police reports.

Immigrant right groups and local residents viewed the release of the two with disbelief and disdain and called on the DA's office to quickly resolve this matter.

A Long History of Controversy and Conflict

The center has a long history of controversy and confrontation. It was targeted by radical anti-immigration groups in 2005 with numerous protests. At one infamous protest in July of that year, sponsored by the local restrictionist group, Save Our State, the inclusion of Nazi flag waving members of the white supremacist group National Alliance sent shockwaves through the community. For the first time the nexus of the anti-immigration and white supremacists movements was revealed in public.

Minutemen groups taking place in the protest were quick to try to disassociate themselves from their more radical brethren. They have long claimed, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, that they not only have no connections to radical white supremacist, but they actively dissuade radicals from joining their ranks.

SOS, a group already facing charges of radicalism after founder Joe Turner was quoted by a fellow anti-immigrants activist as having instructing his followers to "Bring your bats, fellas. If we are lucky, we are gonna need them…", tried their best to distance themselves from the Nazis. They went so far as to scrub their internet message boards of comments and images left by the skinheads and National Alliance members. The comments were lost … but the picture evidence remains in various place on the internet….to the consternation of SOS founder, Joe Turner, who has since moved into the "legitimate" world of anti-immigrant activism becoming the Western Field Representative for the Washington based, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

The event organizer, minuteman member Eileen Garcia, who calls herself one of "Gilchrist's Angels," after minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist, is believed to be behind the effort to squash the news of white supremacists ties to the rally.

Posting on the Save Our State message board, a member known as "OCAngel", believed to be Garcia, quickly requested those administrating the site lock any further comments from being posted the night after the rally until they could remove any damning comments and images.

Eileen Garcia and the mystery map

A year later, Garcia was once again at the center of controversy when she just happened to be rummaging around the California Department of Transportation in Irvine one day and stumbled upon an old map that showed that the land on which the day worker center was build in fact belonged to the California Department of Transportation, a state agency. This made it illegal for the center to continue to operate under California law. With the help of lawyers from the ultra right-wing group, Judicial Watch, Garcia and her fellow minutemen were able to shut the center down temporarily until the city and state reached an agreement.

How Garcia, who portrays herself as just a "simple housewife concerned about the effects of illegal immigration", managed such incredible detective work was nothing short of miraculous. In fact it made her an instantaneous celebrity in anti-immigrant and white supremacist circles. Her praises were sung not only by the likes of her hero Jim Gilchrist, but from the National Alliance and the Aryan Nation website Stormfront.

Others, not associated with the anti-immigrant movement, questioned this strange coincidence and allegations of possible assistance from local or state officials were raised.

Ties between local officials and the anti-immigrant movement have long been speculated by residents. Some City Council members are believed to have close ties to the minutemen and it's been speculated that they have been active on the state and possibly federal level to have the center closed. According to a source with close ties to city government, there is one member in particular who, along with her husband, "may have been deeply involved in the Minutemen activities." The source believes "that decisions about the center are made behind closed doors so nobody outside the select people knows what she's really up to."

This Friday, Laguna Beach will once again be at the center of controversy as Eileen Garcia brings Judicial Watch to town once again argue a new case aimed at closing down the work center….just another day in the sunny, OC, I guess.

This is the first in a three-part series that will be looking at the people and groups behind the effort to close the Laguna Beach Day Laborer Center and make the OC the epicenter for anti-immigrant activity. Our on-scene investigative reporter, Artemis, will be filing reports about both the trial and the events leading up to it.

Photo top right: Neo-Nazis at July 2005 rally at Laguna Beach day workers center
Photo bottom left: SOS leader Joe Turner at rally with Nazi flags in foreground

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The mask of diversity removed

No one paid much attention to the website, Internet postings or letters penned by the members of the fledgling anti-immigration organization. In the few years since its inception, Vietnamese for Fair Immigration could hardly make their presence known, receiving only minor coverage from anti-immigration maven Michelle Malkin and a few posts published on the extremist website VDare, best known for its racially charged nativist rhetoric. That was until they decided to put up a billboard on one of Berkley's busiest intersections proclaiming that providing "amnesty" to undocumented immigrants was an act of racism. The "No Racist Amnesty" billboard not only attracted attention, but also raised questions as to who this group of Vietnamese refugees were.

According to their website, the group was founded two years ago by Vietnamese-Americans who felt that the current immigration laws favored Latinos, and more importantly, any change that allowed for legalization of current undocumented immigrants further discriminates against Asians in general and Vietnamese in particular. Co-founder, LeQuan Hoang put it quite simply: "They can just cross the border. We cannot swim across the ocean."

But things are not quite that simple.


tags: immigration, Pat Buchanan , FAIR,Tim Binh, Vietnamese for Fair Immigration , John Tanton

As it turns out, like some other recently formed ethnically orientated anti-immigration groups, the driving force behind the group is not in fact a Vietnamese-American, but rather a local Caucasian businessman.

The Lompoc-based group, which has endorsed political candidates, written letters to the editors of newspapers and has aired its views on Web sites, was co-founded by a white, Southern California cyclemaker who is also a member of one of the state's most prominent immigration control organizations.

In fact, the group's self-proclaimed Vietnamese-American spokesman, who wrote at least one of the letters and has espoused the group's views on several Web sites, is the group's Caucasian co-founder using a Vietnamese surname, his wife said.

The spokesman, who called himself Tim Binh, initially denied that he was the cyclemaker from Lompoc, Tim Brummer. But after a reporter told him his wife identified him as Brummer, he said it was her idea.

And he feels he used the name legitimately, adding that he may make Tim Binh his legal name.

"I speak Vietnamese.

I eat Vietnamese food.

I live with Vietnamese.

In my mind, I'm half Vietnamese."

Oroville Mercury-Regisiter

As the immigration debate has heated up, an increasing number of grassroots groups that claim to be efforts of non-whites advocating for increased restrictions and controls on illegal immigration have been formed. But increasingly, these groups claiming to represent Blacks, Latinos and other ethnic groups opposed to comprehensive immigration reform have turned out to be little more than thinly veiled attempts by mostly white anti-immigration groups or individuals to mask themselves in a cloak of diversity. In some cases the groups have been funded or founded by established, predominately white, anti-immigration organizations that actively recruit minorities to put a diverse face on their movement.

According to Mark Potok, who has tracked such groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center, these front organizations have become more common "because the (immigration control) movement is overwhelmingly white, there's a great desire to throw off the accusations of racism, and the easier way to do that is to have groups that are not white. I think that is what is going on in many, many cases."

Meet Tim Binh

Over the years, "Tim Binh" has riled against "anchor babies" stating that "the children of occupying aliens should not be US citizens. I would have to say 10 million illegal aliens that cost Americans $300 billion a year, that kill thousands of Americans, that sicken millions of Americans, and that trash our environment, are a hostile alien occupation”, opposed providing driver licenses to the undocumented, and explained why he believes Mexican immigrants have no respect for the law since "in Mexican culture, laws are made to be broken."



It's not surprising that the views expressed by Tim Bihn (Brummer), co-founder of Vietnamese for Fair Immigration, so closely align with those of the anti-immigration far-right. Since March of 2005 he posted over 2500 comments on the Internet forum of the anti-immigration organization Save Our State which has been accused of having ties to various white supremacists and white nationalist organizations. As a member of Californians for Population Stabilization, which advocates for strict immigration controls, his opinions and rhetoric are quite common within the restrictionist groups and anti-immigration organizations to which he belongs. The Santa Barbara-based CAPS is one of 13 groups founded or funded by anti-immigration kingpin, John Tanton. Like other Tanton groups, Californians for Population Stabilization claims that immigration-driven population increases are hurting the environment and causing overcrowded schools, traffic and an overburdened health care system.

In an early interview, Brummer -- who identified himself as Vietnamese for Immigration Reform's spokesman, Tim Binh -- said the group was created two years ago by Vietnamese refugees who have been frustrated in their efforts to bring relatives to the U.S. through legal channels.

He said the group's members feel illegal immigration and amnesties granted to onetime illegal immigrants are to blame for the long waits. And they feel the system favors Latino immigrants over everyone else, he said, pointing to numbers that show that more Latinos immigrate here than anyone else.

"The politicians, we call them up, they don't listen to us. So we put our billboards up," he said. "They just want Hispanics, it seems. So we thought the American people should know."

Oroville Mercury-Regisiter

Although Binh/Brummer presents himself as an immigration-rights activist, his positions are quite clearly not those of other immigrant rights groups

(What his group insists) on is a fair US immigration policy—not one generous and all-forgiving policy for Mexico and another different policy for everyone else that rigidly enforces existing immigration laws.

Among them are:

• Enforce all immigration laws. Illegal aliens residing inside the U.S. should be deported. Businesses should be required to check the validity of new employees' Social Security or work permit numbers.



• Local and state law enforcement officers should verify the citizenship and immigration status of everyone they apprehend. Every illegal alien they apprehend should be detained and transferred to the Homeland Security Departments ICE division for deportation.



• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should double the number of interior enforcement officers and detention facilities.



• Children born to illegal aliens and guest workers in the U.S. should not be given U.S. citizenship. The U.S. is totally out of step with the rest of the world in this regard.



• The U.S. should not allow amnestied illegal aliens, anchor babies, and anyone sponsored by both groups to sponsor any more of their relatives for family preference immigration.

… Vietnamese for Fair Immigration lobbies for more immigration from Vietnam—but not more immigration overall.

VDare

Brummer's group is not the first to try to put an ethnic face on the predominately white anti-immigration movement.

The Minuteman's Rainbow Coalition

The Minutemen have been actively trying to recruit Black and Latino members and have taken to featuring the few that have joined prominently at media events and rallies. Perpetual candidate and far-right pundit, Alan Keyes, has joined the group and often speaks at rallies donning a strange mix of street bling and country-western wear including a black cowboy hat. Ted Hayes, a black minuteman activist, started his own anti-immigration spin-off group earlier this year, the Crispus Attucks Brigade, named after a black man who was first person killed in the Boston Massacre.

Earlier this year Minuteman leader Jim Gilchrist intentionally chose a black Los Angels neighborhood in hopes of attracting more diversity to his cause when he launch his ill-fated cross-country tour from LA to Washington.

….when Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist kicked off his group's cross-country caravan to Washington, D.C., last May 3, he picked Leimert Park, a mostly black Los Angeles neighborhood, as the caravan's rallying point. Gilchrist brought out the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, African-American head of the right-wing, Christian fundamentalist Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny, along with Ted Hayes, the black homeless advocate, to back him up.

The rally was supposed to be an invitation to Minuteman discipleship, but it didn't end in benediction. Faced by dozens of African-Americans calling Gilchrist a racist and labeling his black associates as "Sambos," Gilchrist dropped the friendly face. "Minutemen, stand your ground," he barked. Then, referring to a man leading chants against his followers, Gilchrist added, "If it's war he wants, then let it begin here," according to the Los Angeles Times.

"We confronted them and chased them out of our community with that racist nonsense," says Najee Ali, president of the Islamic H.O.P.E. civil rights organization in Los Angeles. "We wanted to let them know that they are not welcome in our community and we were offended they chose that as their departure point."

Ali's May confrontation with the Minutemen was neither his first nor his last. Throughout the summer Ali hosted a number of forums on black and Latino community relationships. They were sponsored in part by the Latino and African American Leadership Alliance, which lists as co-chairs Ali, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Christine Chavez, granddaughter of union activist César Chavez. Minutemen, both black and white, showed up to heckle panel members -- including California state assemblymen and Los Angeles City Council members -- and to intimidate the audience.

…Hard evidence shows it is the black Minutemen, however, who don't represent mainstream black thought on the topic of immigration. Several major polls show that most African Americans favor the U.S. Senate's Kennedy-McCain bill, which would allow many undocumented workers to stay in America and eventually earn citizenship. Most mainstream civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the Urban League, have come out in support of Latino immigrants.

"Smokescreen", SPLC

FAIR looks for cover in diversity

Despite overwhelming evidence that most minorities find little in common with the anti-immigration cause, advocacy groups like John Tanton's Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) have started groups claiming to represent both Blacks and Hispanics.

On May 1st, millions of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets in cities all over the country to voice their opposition to the "enforcement only" House legislation that would criminalize 12 million and calls for increased militarization of the border and the building of a 700 mile long wall. As the multitudes assembled in their various staging areas dressed in white shirts and carrying banners and flags, in a conference room in Washington a different kind of immigration advocacy group was announcing its creation. This group was also made up predominately of Hispanics, only their agenda was in direct opposition to the activity taking place in the streets down below. The founders of You Don’t Speak For Me came to the National Press Club to announce that despite what might appear on the TV screens that day, not all Latinos supported the marchers.

But there was one thing Col. Al Rodriguez, the founder of the group, and the other members of the group forgot to mention that day as they made their rounds of media appearances including those on FOX and Lou Dobbs. This group of concerned citizens of Latino decent did not spring whole from minds of its participants, it was midwifed in its birth by the nations preeminent anti-immigration cabal; the Tanton organization.

According to the You Don't Speak For Me website the group was the brainchild of Col. Al Roriguez, a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran:

You Don't Speak for Me formed when Col. Al Rodriguez became fed up watching media coverage of the mass protests of April. "Their leaders were saying it was a march for immigrant rights and a Latino/Hispanic movement," says Rodriguez. "I thought to myself, 'Hey, those are illegal aliens, not immigrants!'" Col. Rodriguez began speaking out to others saying, "I'm of Hispanic ancestry and those people are acting like they speak for me. Well, you don't speak for me!"

Col. Rodriguez began asking others to help him reach more people who felt the same way and You Don't Speak for Me formed from this loose coalition of individuals. It is a group of concerned Americans of Hispanic/Latino heritage, some first or second generation, others recent legal immigrants, who believe illegal immigration harms America and a guest worker amnesty will do the same.

YDSFM! Officers are:
Col. Al Rodriguez, Chairman
Mariann Davies, Vice Chair
Claudia Spencer, Vice Chair
Justin Rangel, Vice Chair
Maria Chojnowski, Vice Chair

You Don't Speak For Me

Nowhere on the website or in any of Col. Rodriguez's interviews was any mention made about the Tanton organization's association with You Don't Speak For Me, but the contact information given on the press page of the website lists Ira Mehlman and Susan Wysoki as the primary contacts for the group. Both of whom have e-mail addresses at fairus.org. the web address for Tanton's flagship organization, The Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Mehlman is also the driving force behind the group, Choose Black America, which was supposed to be an organization created by Blacks who felt illegal immigration was hurting their communities.

Last May, the formation of CBA was announced at a FAIR-sponsored press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C, but to date that press conference was the first and last action taken by the group. It appears to exist solely as website and a public relations vehicle along with other FAIR sponsored groups like the Coalition for the Future of the American Worker, which claims to be a coalition of blue-collar groups, and Col. Rodriquez's, "You Don't Speak for Me."

CBA is billed as a "coalition of business, academic and community leaders" who believe that "Blacks, in particular, have lost economic opportunities, seen their kids' schools flooded with non-English speaking students, and felt the socio-economic damage of illegal immigration more acutely than any other group." It's portrayed as a grassroots organization, but it hardly sprang from the community. Tiny type at the bottom of CBA's home page reads, "A project of FAIR."

Five of the 11 founding members of CBA were interviewed for this article. All but one said they had no idea who the other individuals in their "coalition" were before they arrived in D.C. for the press conference. James Clingman, a Cincinnati columnist and businessman, said that if he had known, he would have never shown up. "Choose Black America was just the banner under which we had a press conference," says Clingman, who writes on economics. "There are people involved [in CBA] who I am just diametrically opposed to, like [far-right Christian evangelical] Jesse Lee Peterson and those other neo-conservative, black so-called leaders."

Clingman says that with the exception of his personal friend, Claud Anderson, he has had no contact with any of the other CBA founders or with FAIR since the press conference. According to the rest of the CBA founders interviewed, there have been no meetings, no phone calls, and no other organizational advances since May.

"Smokescreen", SPLC

Despite the efforts of FAIR, the Minutemen, and "Tim Binh" neither the minorities supposedly represented by these groups nor the general public are easily fooled by these kind of front groups. One need only see Tom Tancredo with his "America is Full" tee-shirt, hear him call Miami a "third world country" watch him lobbying against sending fund to New Orleans after Katrina, or hear him call for the nuking of Mecca to know what's truly in his heart. One need only hear Pat Buchanan complain about America losing its "White Christian" idenity to know what he's all about. All the fake advocacy groups in the world and attempts to paint a diverse face on the movement these men lead cannot fool the American people… they know what these men advocate and they know what those who follow them advocate also….and diversity it ain't.

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Buchanan in his own words

Back on September 28, Pat Buchanan appeared on KQED radio in San Francisco as part of his book tour to pitch his latest tome: "State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America." Unlike many of the hit and run spots Buchanan did over the period on TV and radio to pitch his book, KQED devoted the entire hour to Pat. This long-form interview done by "Forum" host Dave Iverson, with additional caller questions, allowed Buchanan the time to fully explain his positions and expand on his thesis about the effects of immigration on American culture, and just what Pat thinks that American culture should look like.

The first ten or fifteen minutes were devoted to Mr. Buchanan's views on the Iraq war and the Bush administration. The remainder of the interview dealt with issues at the heart of Buchanan's philosophy and world view. He touches on immigration, race, ethnicity and his preference to keep the country White, European and Christian. Unbridled by the constraints of the 5 min book plug format, Buchanan allows us a unique opportunity to really see into the mind and more importantly, the soul of the man.


tags: immigration, Pat Buchanan , racism


rac.ism  [rey-siz-uhm]
–noun 1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.


Once Mr. Buchanan gets into the swing of things, rarely a sentence passes that doesn't contain the word, "race" "culture" (preceded by "European", "Hispanic", "Christian" or "foreign")" or "ethnicity." His entire thought process is dominated by the notion of race. He sees certain races and cultures as far superior to others, and advocates that America should remain as racially pure as possible. He further states that all immigration should be based upon a "point system" of desirable and undesirable traits.

According to Buchanan:

A nation is united by blood and soil, history, heritage and most importantly language and culture

Bonds of American culture are exclusively western European…American began as an English nation and became a European nation in terms of our ancestry and culture…now we are inviting balkanization and the breakup of nation

Ethnic core of the country is European and Christian, if we become a conglomerate of all the religions and cultures of the world we will cease to exist.

We should set preferences with a point system for those we let in - they should be speak English, be educated, from a similar western culture and Christian.

We should favor those with PhD's or specialties like the German scientists we brought in after WWII

'Illegals' are bringing in diseases

Latin American children, even in the second and third generation, like blacks, don't do well in school. And will, later in life rely on welfare and social services Why bring in folks who contribute less to society, we have to pick and chose the 'best'

We are overloading the counties ability to adapt and recoup ...we need time out from all immigration.

Assimilation is not taking place; we will soon be a nation of two languages and cultures like Palestine, Cyprus, and Kosovo-Serbia

Extracted quotes can't really do this interview service. For all those interested in immigration and immigration reform, the hour long interview is well worth a listen. Without the constraints of time or a MSM moderator to keep him from going too far off the deep end, Buchanan is free to show his true colors. Iverson gives him plenty of rope and Pat does a fine job of hanging himself.


No MP3 is available for this interview due to the inclusion of copyright-protected material. You can hear the entire interview by going to the KQED website for "Immigration in Focus" and scrolling down to the Sept, 28, 2006 edition of "Forum"

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Welcome to the Real OC

The freeing by the District Attorney's Office of two men arrested for hate crimes committed at a Laguna Beach day laborers work center has renewed concerns about the increasing level of violence directed at immigrants and Latinos in what is quickly becoming ground zero in the war over immigration: Orange County California.

But more importantly, it's raised questions about who might really be behind it.

When most people hear the words Laguna Beach, they picture sun-bleached beautiful people, with fabulous lifestyles living in homes tucked into hilltops overlooking an endless ocean. But just underneath the surface of this scenic beachfront community, a raging conflict is taking place. Orange County, of which Laguna Beach is part, has quickly become ground zero in a covert campaign by some of the nation's most extreme groups to push an agenda of racism and hate. On any given weekend, members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, SOS, CCIR, or the Minutemen will travel from all over the state to converge on Laguna Beach and other OC communities, bringing with them their extreme views on race and immigration.

For some, these people are viewed as interlopers, agent provocateurs who want to use Laguna Beach as a test area to further their cause. Others see them as opportunists, using the town in hopes of launching themselves into the national spotlight. But the intruders may not have been working entirely alone. Many now believe they've been enabled by a small group of residents working behind the scenes to make the affluent beach community into ground zero in the war on immigration.


tags: immigration, Laguna Beach , SOS , National Alliance, white supremacists, minutemen



Welcome to the real OC



Those within the immigrant's rights and Latino activist community have taken to referring to Orange County California as the region "behind the orange curtain" …and with good reason. It has long been a breeding ground and test area for many of the most strident anti-immigration activist in the nation.

Orange County, a staunchly conservative region with a long history of groundbreaking initiatives designed to drive out Hispanic immigrants. "Orange County is the most Mexican-hating county in the country," says Orange County Weekly syndicated columnist and investigative editor Gustavo Arellano.

The county is home to Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist, whose "citizens border patrol" now has chapters nationwide, and to the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), a major force behind 1994's Proposition 187, which sought to deprive undocumented immigrants of social services, health care, and public education. CCIR's official ballot argument described Proposition 187 as "the first giant stride in ultimately ending the ILLEGAL ALIEN invasion." The bulk of Proposition 187 was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge years after it was passed by 59% of California voters, but it has nevertheless served as the model for similar measures in other states, notably Arizona's Proposition 200.
SouthernPoverty Law Center

Like most of Orange County, Laguna Beach has been dragged into the immigration wars. The situation revolves around a controversial day laborer hiring center set up by the city seven years ago to provide a safe and controlled way for laborers and those who want to provide them with work to do business. But the center has proven to be far from a safe haven. Over the years it's been the subject of numerous protests and counter protests, many attracting outside agitators that have brought with them increasing levels of violence.

In the latest incident, two laborers were injured when they were hit by a car driven by two men yelling racial epithets while intentionally racing through the center on Sept. 17, 2006 trying to hit those waiting to find a days work.

Two men - one from Laguna Beach and one from Laguna Niguel - were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and a hate crime in connection with the incident, Det. Sgt. Darin Lenyi said

Lenyi said the suspects, Dennis Kaptilniy, 18, of Laguna Beach, and Artem Soloviev, 23, of Laguna Niguel, were held on $500,000 bond.

The incident began at 9:12 a.m. when the two suspects drove into the labor center in a Toyota Corolla, and spoke with one man, apparently seeking to hire him, Lenyi said.

When the laborer declined to be hired at the price offered, a confrontation and a physical fight ensued, in which the laborer was punched in the face, Lenyi alleged. The two suspects then left in their car, police said.

The suspects returned shortly thereafter and allegedly sped through the center, hitting two people and causing minor injuries, knocking down a tree, and damaging a fence and a bench, Lenyi said. The suspects also allegedly shouted racial epithets during the attack.

The suspects drove through the center "a few times, trying to hit people and intentionally trying to run people over," Lenyi alleged.

The Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot

48 hours later Kaptilniy and Soloviev were set free with no charges filed. According to Susan Schroeder of the Orange County District Attorney's Office the case was "sent back for further examination" and they've called on anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward to supply further information despite numerous eye-witnesses to the event and detailed police reports.

Immigrant right groups and local residents viewed the release of the two with disbelief and distain and have called on the DA's office to quickly resolve this matter.

The center has a long history of controversy and confrontation. It was targeted by radical anti-immigration groups in 2005 with numerous protests. At one infamous protest in July of that year, sponsored by the local restrictionist group, Save Our State, the inclusion of Nazi flag waving members of the white supremacist group National Alliance sent shockwaves through the community. For the first time the nexus of the anti-immigration and white supremacists movements was revealed in public.

Minutemen groups taking place in the protest were quick to try to disassociate themselves from their more radical brethren. They have long claimed, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, that they not only have no connections to radical white supremacist, they actively dissuade radicals from joining their ranks.

SOS, a group already facing charges of radicalism after founder Joe Turner was quoted by a fellow anti-immigrants activist as having instructing his followers to "Bring your bats, fellas. If we are lucky, we are gonna need them. PING!", tried their best to distance themselves from the Nazis. They went so far as to scrub their internet message boards of comments and images left by the skinheads and National Alliance members. The comments were lost … but the picture evidence remains in various place on the internet.

The event organizer, minuteman member Eileen Garcia, who calls herself one of "Gilchrist's Angels," after minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist, is believed to be behind the effort to squash the news of white supremacists ties to the rally.

Posting on the Save Our State message board, a member known as "OCAngel", believed to be Garcia, quickly requested those administrating the site lock any further comments from being posted the night after the rally until they could remove any damning comments and images.

A year later, Garcia was once again at the center of controversy when she just happened to be rummaging around the California Department of Transportation in Irvine one day and stumbled upon an old map that showed that the land on which the day worker center was build in fact belonged to Caltrans, a state agency. This made it illegal for the center to continue to operate under California law. With the help of lawyers from the ultra right-wing group, Judicial Watch, Garcia and her fellow minutemen were able to shut the center down temporarily until the city and state reached an agreement.

How Garcia, who portrays herself as just a simple housewife concerned about the effects of illegal immigration, managed such incredible detective work was nothing short of miraculous. In fact it made her an instantaneous celebrity in anti-immigrant and white supremacist circles. Her praises were sung not only by the likes of her hero Jim Gilchrist, but from the National Alliance and the Aryan Nation website Stormfront.

Others, not associated with the anti-immigrant movement, questioned this strange coincidence and allegations of possible assistance from local or state officials were raised.

Ties between local officials and the anti-immigrant movement have long been speculated by residents. Some City Council members are believed to have close ties to the minutemen and it's been speculated that they have been active on the state and possibly federal level to have the center closed. According to a source with close ties to city government, there is one member in particular who, along with her husband, "have been deeply involved in the Minutemen activities." The source believes "that decisions about the center are made behind closed doors so nobody outside the select people knows what she's really up to."

This Tuesday, Laguna Beach will once again be at the center of controversy. Eileen Garcia is bringing Judicial Watch to town once again to announce a new lawsuit aimed at closing down the work center. Not surprisingly her announcement has been timed to coincide with rallies planned by immigrant's rights groups to protest the District Attorney's failure to prosecute the case of two men who allegedly drove through the work center last week injuring workers.

Just another day in the OC, I guess.

Photo top right: Neo-Nazis at July 2005 rally at Laguna Beach day workers center

Photo bottom left: SOS leader Joe Turner at rally with Nazi flags in foreground

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Tancredo ain’t just whistling Dixie

This past Saturday, as the nation prepared to commemorate Monday’s anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11, 700 miles from ground zero, Colorado Representative, Tom Tancredo, stood behind a flag draped podium in Columbia S. Carolina and spoke to a group of followers also looking to commemorate the past. But the flag was not the Stars and Stripes, but rather a Confederate battle flag, and their commemoration was not of 9-11… but instead of a time when “the White-European race” ruled the South with an iron fist.

According to a report filed by an under-cover reporter from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the congressman was welcomed with open arms by a white supremacist group who invited all their members to hear “their guest,”Tom Tancredo speak about immigration and closing the borders. The League of the South, which now claims over 9000 members, was founded in 1994 by J. Michael Hill, who has called slavery a "God-ordained" institution and stated that “non-whites” should bow to “the cultural dominance of the Anglo-Celtic people and their institutions.”


tags: immigration, Tom Tancredo , League of the South , CO-6, white supremacists, neo-confederates

On the ground floor, a United States Army brass band commemorated the victims of 9/11. One level up, not far from the museum's permanent Confederate Army exhibit, the state chapter of the League of the South (LOS), a neo-Confederate hate group, hosted a barbeque in honor of Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, head of the House Immigration Reform Caucus and likely contestant in the 2008 GOP presidential primary. Proceeds from the $15 per-plate fundraiser went to Americans Have Had Enough!, a South Carolina-based non-profit coalition for which Tancredo serves as honorary chairman.

While Tancredo's hard-line "deport 'em all" stance on immigration has made him a favorite politician of white supremacists, this marked the first time the congressman has appeared at a hate group event.

Dressed casually in a yellow t-shirt, Tancredo addressed the standing-room audience of 200-250 from behind a podium draped in a Confederate battle flag. To the congressman's right, a portrait of Robert E. Lee peered out at the crowd of Minutemen activists, local politicians, and red-shirted members of LOS and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The Confederate trappings of the event found a mismatch in Tancredo's standard nativist polemic, which stayed clear of references to Southern heritage or direct plaudits for the LOS, a Southern white nationalist organization dedicated to "Southern independence, complete, full, and total."

…

At the close of Tancredo's speech, several men in confederate-themed clothing stood up and bellowed the first notes of "Dixie," the Confederate anthem. They were soon joined by voices from throughout the large hall, which was now entirely on its feet. Tancredo, a second-generation Italian-American from Denver, appeared confused by the sudden burst of strange song. He quickly worked his way toward the exit with his staff.

Tancredo's encounter with the League of the South continued outside. On the steps of the museum, Tancredo held court with LOS officials and supporters in Confederate clothing. He held a batch of the materials being distributed at the barbeque, among them a copy of the The Citizen's Informer, the newspaper of the Conservative Citizens Council, the racist organization that grew out of the segregationist White Citizens Councils of the 1950s. When questioned about the newspaper, Tancredo responded that he did not know its history.

SPLC

Trancredo was quick to try to distance himself from his newfound friends once the story broke, claiming he was not aware of the LOS members in the audience.

According to his spokesman, Carlos Espinosa, Tancredo knew that the audience did included members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Civil War re-enactors in Southern garb and when they began singing Dixie, the Colorado Congressman joined in. “These aren't racist people who spew out hate. These are just people remembering and cherishing their past,’ Espinosa said. "Tom thought it would be rude not to take part in it."

Claiming that the LOS had nothing to do with the event, Espinosa added that the group "is very racist and a horrible group that is desperately trying to seem relevant by attaching themselves to an event they had nothing to do with."

But this is not the first time Tancredo’s rabid the anti-immigrant rhetoric has attracted support from white supremacists, neo-nazis and southern separatists. Such groups have infiltrated the ranks of his pet Minuteman Project from the start, and he has been supported or formally endorsed by numerous hate groups such as American Renaissance and National Vanguard, and has not of yet refused their support, or declined an endorsement. … It’s all very “wink and nod” in the Tom’s strange world of “catch me if you can”

Tancredo, like his Minuteman friends and Team America PAC, has all along walked a very fine line between acceptable political discourse and sounding at times like a maniacal racist, trying to carefully craft his message as not to sound too extreme.

As he gains more power it’s only a matter of time before his natural allies and friends from the fringe elements of society obtain a greater voice and presence in his “movement.”

As much as Colorado’s little Napoleon wants to lead his crusade, claiming some sort of victory for “the common man,” increasingly like his mentor Pat Buchanan, it’s becoming evident that his vision for America is not one of tolerance, but rather one reserved for those who meet a certain racial criteria.

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Anti Defamation League issues report on racism in immigration debate.

The Anti Defamation League, one of the nations most respected watchdog groups exposing anti-Semitic and racist activity, recently issued a report on the growing influence of hate-groups in the anti-immigration movement. Entitled, "Extremists Declare 'Open Season' on Immigrants: Hispanics Target of Incitement and Violence", the report documents how these groups are using and co-opting the immigration debate to further their white supremacists and racists agendas.

This report now joins the growing body of evidence, such as that compiled by the Southern Poverty law Center, that not only are these fringe groups being empowered by anti-immigration rhetoric coming from many mainstream sources, but are in fact fueling and inflaming the debate to meet their own agenda.

It has long been know amongst immigrants right activists that one need not play all “six degrees of separation” to link many prominent members of the anti-immigration movement to those on the far fringes of society, a “degree” or two would be all that was needed.


tags: immigration, ADL, Racism, Anti Defanation League, white supremacists

Spurred in recent weeks by the debate on Capitol Hill and the groundswell of grassroots activism in support of America's immigrant community, extremists have become increasingly emboldened by, and fixated on, the controversy over immigration policy, encouraging their supporters to capitalize on the issue by encouraging anti-immigrant activism, and even violence against all Hispanics.

While white supremacists have for many years attempted to exploit rising anti-immigration sentiments in the U.S., the level and intensity of their attacks against Hispanics has reached dangerous new highs, with right-wing extremists joining anti-immigration groups, distributing anti-immigrant propaganda and holding frequent anti-immigration rallies and protests.

As a result, Hispanics, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, increasingly are becoming the targets of hatred and violence from hardcore white supremacists.

Racists ranging from neo-Nazis to Klansmen to racist skinheads are among the most active anti-immigration activists in the country. Motivating their actions is the core conviction of modern white supremacist ideology: That the white race itself is threatened with extinction by a "rising tide of color" controlled and manipulated by Jews.

ADL

(WARNING: The report highlights some extremely troubling, violent and racist hate speech. The excerpts reprinted here are intended to demonstrate, educated and warn the reader. Those who might find this kind of rhetoric too troubling or emotionally hurtful should skip ahead, passing over the quoted passages.)

The fringe groups have picked up on general sentiments and themes in the anti-immigration movement and accentuated those that most align with their own twisted vision. At the same time they manage to move the debate further to the extreme by ratcheting up the rhetoric to ever more racist and hateful levels. They urge Americans to “fight back” against and “invasion” of “white America” by Mexicans and other Hispanics. While the extreme language used by these hate groups gives away their true intent, the general sentiments are not far from many of those expressed in the more mainstream circles of the anti-immigrant movement.

Rhetoric like that of anti-immigration leader Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) when he spoke the Minutemen Project opening day trally in 2005:

Tancredo told the Minutemen that each of them stood for 100,000 likeminded Americans who couldn't afford to make the trip. … we must never surrender our right as citizens to do our patriotic duty and defend our country ... and stop this invasion ourselves."

SPLC

Quickly turns to:

"These Mestizo invaders are so different from us that by mixing with them or being dispossessed by them we will cease to live, we will cease to be ourselves or have a place to exist to support the lives of our future generations. And that is the crucial reason why this invasion must be stopped."

ADL

When filtered through the prism of the neo-nazi and white supremacists.

It is then moved even further to the extreme until it reflects the hate group’s ultimate goals.

"this infestation of cockroaches need deportation or extermination!" If legal means of "stopping this rising tide" were not enough, "then these brown squat monsters should begin to turn up dead all across Amerika…We now have another game animal to add to our list of available targets for our favorite pastime, hunting, and we'll declare permanent OPEN SEASON on these dirty wetbacks! From what I have heard through the grapevine the Skinheads and Klans across the country are more than prepared for this type of action. I say let's play by state and see which state can claim the most kills and let the jewsmedia whores keep score!"

ADL

(For a look at just how pervasive the anti-immigrant rhetoric is, here is a link to a “white rock” radio station blog that turned up on my sitemeter on May 1. It is a discussion about that days immigrant right march.Link )

The report goes on to look at the growing incidences of violence and hate crimes that have been committed against Hispanics. Stating that while only a minority of hate crimes are committed by “ideological extremists” it is “The increased willingness of such white supremacists, especially racist skinheads, to attack Hispanics (that) represents a dangerous and disturbing trend.”

November 2005, Tennessee. A federal judge sentenced former Klansman Daniel James Schertz to 14 years in prison for selling pipe bombs to a person he thought would use them to kill Mexican and Haitian immigrants. The person turned out to be an undercover informant. Schertz, a former corrections officer and member of the North Georgia White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, pleaded guilty to making five pipe bombs to be used to blow up a bus carrying Mexican workers. Later, Schertz expressed gratitude that the government had stopped him, but said, "We should have people here who know how to speak English. They are over here illegally and nothing gets done to them."

ADL

The report concludes with a look at the growing vigilante border patrol groups movement.

It is not surprising that the most radical anti-Hispanic sentiment is coming from white supremacists; however, there are other groups joining the anti-Hispanic crusade. With mounting public awareness and concern over illegal immigration in America, the issue is also being exploited by extreme anti-immigration activists, some of whom are reaching out to white supremacists. The rhetoric of these activists is largely aimed at Mexicans, not other illegal aliens, and frequently does not distinguish between Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

This extreme end of the anti-immigration movement includes both anti-Hispanic hate groups masquerading as immigration reform groups as well as vigilante border patrol groups, who conduct armed patrols along the borders of the United States. Several border vigilantes have been arrested on weapons charges. Casey Nethercott, for example, associated with border vigilante groups such as Ranch Rescue and the Arizona Guard, is currently serving a five-year prison term on weapons charges stemming from a 2003 incident in which he and others confronted and assaulted two Salvadorans when on "patrol."

ADL

The message could not be more clear. As the immigration debate continues to heat up, so does the rhetoric from the anti-immigration camp. Unfortunately that rhetoric is increasingly taking the tone and timber of those at the furthest extreme. In May 2005 over 400 anti-immigrant groups held a summit in Las Vegas. During the "Unite to Fight Against Illegal Immigration" summit “activists gathered at the event to hear speakers describe illegal immigrants as "the enemy within" and "illegal barbarians," while suggesting that America was "at war" with illegal immigrants and urging people to "take America back." And while most in attendance at the summit would never willingly align themselves skinheads, neo-nazis and white supremacists, they cheered rhetoric that was only slightly removed from that of the worst hate mongers.

Not removed by six degrees of separation … but perhaps one or two … and moving ever closer.

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