Racism and Anti-Immigration Laws

John Tanton
"Anti-Immigrant Architect"

Apparently it has become quite common for politicians, be they governors or legislators,  to propose legislation written by some unknown person or organization promoting a particlar cause. The anti-labor legislation proposed by John Kasich (OH) and Scott Walker (WI) was drafted by background groups with ties to the Koch brothers.


Another agregious case is that of Arizona's "papers, please" anti-immigrant 2010 law (SB 1070). According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the law "was largely the result of years of groundwork by a network of groups launched by a man - retired Michigan ophthalmologist John Tanton - with longstanding ties to white supremacists." The actual legislation was the work of a lawyer (Kris Kobach) affiliated with Tanton's organization, Federation for Ammerican Immigration Reform (FAIR). SPLC identified FAIR as a hate group in 2007.


"John Tanton is the racist architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement, according to Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC' Intelligence Project. "The organizations he founded have done more to inject fear and bigotry into the immigration debate than any other."


Beirich's research "showed that Tanton was at the heart of the white nationalist scene for decades. In a 1993 letter, Tanton wrote of his fears that "European-American society" was being threatened by non-white immigration. In another memo he warned of the coming "Latino onslaught."


And Arizona was just the beginning. Utah, Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana have passed SB 1070 style bills while six other states are considering similar bills. Federal judges have temporarily blocked elements of each state law until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the challenges to Arizona's law.


Most observers realize that racism plays a role in the anti-immigration debate, but didn't realize that white supremacists were writing the legislation that local politicians were approving. Perhaps it's time that,  when legislation is proposed, there be full disclosure as to the actual authors and contributors.


(Above quotations and more detail at: "SPLC Report," February, 2012)