“What if all the leading anti-immigration groups were founded by the same man, funded by the same organization, and [had] ties to White supremacy?” So begins Heidi Beirich’s narrative in “Behind the Veil”—a new video being released today that details the common origins of many of the country’s leading anti-immigration groups and their ties to White supremacists. In the video, Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)—the nation’s premier monitor of hate groups—discusses SPLC’s research on organizations such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), NumbersUSA, and the Social Contract Press.
Beirich’s narrative, in particular, draws connections between anti-immigrant forces and one of their founders/funders, retired ophthalmologist John Tanton. Beirich shows how the more extreme groups are designed to coexist with those that appear to the public and media as more moderate.
“There is a debate to be had over immigration,” says the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) President and CEO Janet Murguía, “and we’re anxious to have it. But, so far, the rhetoric has not been about policy, it has been about hate. No good policy has ever come from the demonization of one group by another. The hate has got to stop.”
Produced by NCLR, “Behind the Veil” is the last of three videos that are part of a campaign to divorce hate groups and hate speech from the immigration debate. As with the organizations featured in the other two videos, the Anti-Defamation League (“Code Words of Hate”) and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (“America’s Immigration Legacy”), the SPLC has no public policy stake in the immigration debate. All three videos can be found on NCLR’s website: www.WeCanStopTheHate.org.
“On the one hand,” says Beirich, “the anti-immigrant system is based on pandering to the extremists that you know will join your ranks, back you, fund you, and attend your events. On the other hand, it tries to use groups like FAIR to present a more moderate face that seems disconnected from these folks, but really at the end of the day, isn’t.” “Most people,” says Murguía, “don’t realize that these groups have common origins and agendas that are suspect.”
Beirich also draws the connection between the dramatic rise in hate groups over the past eight years to their refocus on anti-immigrant rhetoric. According to the SPLC, the number of hate groups targeting Latinos is up 48% since the year 2000.
“The driving factor that we found behind this,” says Beirich, “is the shift to pounding the anti-immigrant drum. Every one of them recruits now on immigration. That’s what is driving the rise of hate groups—that, and almost that alone.”
This copy came from a press release I recieved today via email from the National Council of La Raza.
Its groups like these that give me hope. What a bunch of losers. Not 20 years after these guys take the mantle of anti-immigration, millions more immigrants come into the country. If we were to have racist anti-immigrants as our opposition, these losers are the ones.
this came from la raza . =for the race everything others nothing . how sad is this piece . put them on the list of hate groups too art . along with lulac . maldef,and all the other open borders clubs .
I’m saddened that the Arian Supremacy of Nazi Germany surviced World War II and found a home in the Republican Party and a voice in our right-wing radio hosts. Who would have ever thought it?
Me, me, me, me, me, me!
im saddened that the communist survied W.W.II and found a home in the democratic party and a voice in left wing hosts = randi rhodes =fired . keith oberman = jerk =jeanine garofalo =usa hater
Great One,
Not only did you fail Grammar, you seem to also be ignorant of History. The Communists were our allies in World War 2. Hitler sought to destroy Communism, which he claimed was the work of the Jews(Marx, Engalls and Trotsky were all of Jewish origin). He also saw the Russians and Eastern European people as racially inferior, fit only for enslavement, and treated the Russians with utter brutality. Either you are ignorange of this or you condone what Hitler did in Eastern Europe.
Martin Millard and the neo-conservative movement only proves that the Nazis did survive and some escaped to the USA to infiltrate their sick ideology, once again using the fear of Communists, and in this case, Mexican immigrants. Complacency of the populace is what will lead to the Great American Holocaust and I can guarantee Great One will be one to rat out the person hiding Hispanic families in their attic to the American Gestapo. If we don’t turn away from these hatemongers now, it will come within 30 years. The Great American Holocaust of Latinos is coming, why do you think Millard and others are so obsessed with having us forget the Jewish Holocaust. They are setting the USA up to exterminate ALL Latinos.
Interesting to see that “great one” doesn’t denounce the Nazi’s, or the white supremecists, or their home in the Grand Old Party.
While I can’t speak for all Dems or our party, it appears that we are guilty of harboring progressives which include proponents of some or all of the communists philosophy. Nearly a century ago we created a choice between Communist and Union and we chose Union. Regularly we are characterized by the right as communists so its hard to know if the ones you are claiming to be communists are really communists or are some other branch of the progressive tree.
I think a comparison of our respective big tent inhabitants is in order. We have Environmentalists, Unionists, and Intellectuals. What do you have in your tent?
THE MESSAGE = you are nuts if you think i want to exterminate all latinos . i am a latino . please get real .. just like the holocaust . put down the crack pipe .. no im not gonna go out of my way to rat out the illegal living next door . UNLESS they start demanding things like licenses, free health care , joining the la raza group . mr perfect .
6 . i will denounce any nazi in any party .. have you denounce robert kkk byrd in yours .. oh i forgot he dose not count he is a democrat ..