Immigration

becoming a watershed issue? foregrounded by kidswarm from C am, result of drugs, CAFTA, 80's death squadsi may need separate node for climate refugee

1888  scott act forbid return Chinese workers --> plenary power pres  Exclusion act<a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-february-13-2017/">d</a>riven outjean felder?<a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-february-13-2017/">https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-february-13-2017/</a>seesions harkens back to 1925? golden age?face soThe very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries." So <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/donald-trump-muslim-ban-african-union-refugees-slaves-immigration-a7553041.html" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">said</a> African Union head Nhosazana Dlamini-Zuma as she addressed the group's members during this week's summit in Ethiopia. Dlamini-Zuma was speaking about President Donald Trump's controversial executive order suspending the U.S. refugee program for at least 120 days and banning travel from seven majority Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — for at least 90 days. As the United States once again grapples with contentious issues at the intersection of immigration and racial justice, her words underscored how the same white supremacy that's long troubled the nation's domestic affairs has also been expressed in its immigration policy. A hundred years ago this month, for instance, Congress passed the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://immigrationtounitedstates.org/588-immigration-act-of-1917.html" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Immigration Act of 1917</a>, effectively banning Asian, Mexican and Mediterranean people from entering the United States, along with the poor, political radicals and those with mental or physical disabilities. Seven years later, Congress passed the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Immigration Act of 1924</a>, also known as the Asian Exclusion Act. The law created a quota system that prioritized immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, drastically restricted immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and Africa, and completely banned Arabs, Asians and Indians. The law's stated purpose was to "preserve the idea of American homogeneity." At the same time U.S. policy was restricting immigration by people of color, it was denying full citizenship rights to native-born people of African descent whose ancestors had been forced into bondage. It robbed them of their voting rights, deprived them of labor rights, and forced them into segregated facilities. Then came the civil rights movement. When four African-American college students from North Carolina's A&T University sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro 57 years ago this week, they ignited a movement that brought down Jim Crow and led to the passage of the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=97" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Civil Rights Act of 1964</a> and <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=100" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Voting Rights Act of 1965</a>. But the movement did not end there: It also played a role in ending the race-based immigration quota system. As the the civil rights movement gained momentum in the 1960s, it made the idea of America as a white nation increasingly unacceptable. Just a few months after passing the Voting Rights Act, Congress passed the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1965" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965</a>, abolishing the race-based immigration quota system and replacing it with a system that prioritized refugees, people with special skills, and those with family members living in the United States. It also forbade discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas on the basis of race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence. While the bill passed overwhelmingly, most of the "no" votes were from the South, where resistance to racial equality remained strong. President Johnson signed it into law while sitting beneath the Statue of Liberty. "This [old] system violates the basic principle of American democracy, the principle that values and rewards each man on the basis of his merit as a man," Johnson said. "It has been un-American in the highest sense, because it has been untrue to the faith that brought thousands to these shores even before we were a country." The law is now being cited in some of <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://news.vice.com/story/major-legal-challenges-to-trumps-refugee-and-immigration-ban" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the many lawsuits</a> that have been filed challenging Trump's executive order, including the one <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/14069-cair-files-federal-suit-challenging-constitutionality-of-trump-s-muslim-ban-executive-order.html" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1486144374446_108856" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.</a> "This is not a Muslim ban simply. It is a Muslim exclusion order," Lena Masri, an attorney on the case, <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://news.vice.com/story/major-legal-challenges-to-trumps-refugee-and-immigration-ban" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">told</a> Vice, citing its apparent intent of initiating the "mass expulsion of immigrant and nonimmigrant Muslims lawfully residing in the United States by denying them the ability to renew their lawful status or receive immigration benefits afforded to them under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965." CAIR filed its suit in the Eastern District Court of Virginia. The group's officials said they chose that court because it's known for acting quickly.june 2013gang of 8 immigration?SINCE HIS first presidential campaign, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have expressed support for the immigrant community and promised comprehensive immigration reform. In reality, however, Obama has deported a record number of undocumented immigrants, resulting in the expansion of the private-prison industry that profits from detentions and deportations.While Obama, Democrats and their supporters back the comprehensive reform bill presented by the bipartisan Gang of Eight, human rights and labor rights violations, inhumane detentions, deportations and separation of families will continue. Meanwhile, the private-prison industry keeps on winning.The first Obama administration failed to pass promised legislation for comprehensive immigration reform, as well as the DREAM Act of 2010, which would have given undocumented youth and students who were brought here as kids a path to citizenship. Instead, the Obama administration has focused on rampant criminalization and deportation.While the number of deportations under Obama has already surpassed 1.5 million--and is expected to reach 2 million by 2014--anti-immigrant legislation has been proposed with greater frequency at both the state and federal levels during the last decade. Obama has faced growing criticism from Latino and other immigrant communities as aggressive enforcement has resulted in the mass deportation of "low-priority" undocumented immigrants--mothers, fathers and children--separating millions of families and terrorizing millions more. Currently, Latinos make up 97 percent of deportees.Obama and his apologists excuse his administration's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform as the result of a hostile environment in Washington, where Republicans in Congress have created political gridlock. During his second presidential campaign, Obama talked about post-partisanship, collaboration and cooperation from both parties on this issue.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -THIS LONG-hoped-for bipartisanship seemed to have finally materialized in May when an 844-page immigration reform bill was presented to Congress by the U.S. senators working on immigration ,reform known as the Gang of Eight--Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).The bill, however, includes a long and conditional path to legalization. Applicants would only have a Registered Provisional Immigrant status during a 13-year (at least) wait for legalization. Guest worker and E-verify programs would be expanded without strengthening labor laws that would protect existing workers and incoming guest workers. Increased militarization of the border, enforcement and deportations would also continue.When the already dense bill got to the Judiciary Committee, there were more than 300 proposed amendments. Anticipating the amendment markup, <a href="http://americasvoiceonline.org/about/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration: none; color: rgb(191, 82, 82);">America's Voice</a>, a nonprofit that support immigrants rights, quickly dubbed five Republican senators--Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas, Ted Cruz of Texas and David Vitter of Louisiana--a "Gang of Hate" that is opposed to the bill.Some of the amendments they proposed include banning any undocumented immigrant who ever lived in the U.S. from applying for citizenship, requiring enforcement and border security programs to be fully implemented and successful before immigrants can apply for legalization, and the building of a DNA database of immigrants directly linked with the FBI.America's Voice accused these senators of trying to gut a "progressive" immigration reform bill. They have even suggested that Marco Rubio, a Gang of Eight member, should "revoke his membership" because of his backing of some of these amendments.Since then, <a href="http://americasvoiceonline.org/tag/gang-of-hate/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(191, 82, 82);">their online blogs</a> have focused on creating a narrative that glorifies the Gang of Eight's alleged bipartisanship and vilifies the opposition. In this lesser-of-two-evils narrative, the Gang of Eight is a product of an effective Democratic initiative on comprehensive immigration reform and a weakened Republican Party trying to redeem itself, while the Gang of Hate is the product of an ultraconservative Republican faction that has yet to turn the page on the issue.Many prominent immigrant rights organizations, networks, unions, advocates and the mainstream media are increasingly following along in this narrative. <a href="http://cambio-us.org/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(191, 82, 82);">The Campaign for an Accountable, Moral and Balanced Immigration Overhaul</a> (CAMBIO) recently released a press statement declaring:<blockquote style="margin: 1em 2em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CAMBIO is troubled by recent comments attributed to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) regarding the future of the immigration reform bill. Until now, Senator Rubio has played an essential leadership role in moving this legislation forward and for that we commend him. But the Gang of Eight bill represents a bipartisan approach. Undermining it could collapse the entire effort and be yet another failed attempt at comprehensive immigration reform.</blockquote>This campaign brings together prominent immigrant rights' groups, unions and advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and many others.Left out of this narrative, however, is any real criticism of the fact that the Gang of Eight has put forth a bill without the immigrant and Latino communities they claim to represent and support at the table--despite the nationwide growth and mobilization of grassroots organizations opposed to anti-immigrant policies.CAMBIO and other boosters of the Gang of Eight have not pointed out that politicians from both parties fundamentally agree, despite minor differences, on a bill that includes a strenuous and conditional path to legalization, which will create yet another class of undocumented people. Meanwhile, employers will continue to exploit workers, as will the racist criminalization and deportation of immigrants on a mass scale.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -THIS IS because private-prison corporations that run the detention facilities have spent years and massive amounts of money lobbying these politicians to ensure a steady stream of bodies to fill their cages. There is no lesser of two evils, but rather <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/top-private-prison-operators-geo-corrections-corp-america-worry-about-fewer-illegal-immigrants-jail" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(191, 82, 82);">one gang of politicians and their corporate backers who have politically and financially benefited</a> from an expanding prison-industrial complex.Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (GEO), the two largest private-prison companies in the United States, have profited enormously from the expansion of the prison-industrial complex. According to a <a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/gaming_the_system.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(191, 82, 82);">report by the Justice Policy Institute</a>, in 2010 alone, GEO raked in $1.17 billion in annual revenues. CCA took in $1.69 billion, and the private-prison industry as a whole got more than $5 billion.In the last decade, these corporations have influenced legislation by lobbying and through financial contributions to politicians of both parties--by means of their political action committees (PACs)--in order to have direct input in the drafting of these laws. "Since 2000, the three largest private-prison companies--CCA, GEO and Cornell Companies--have contributed $835,514 to federal candidates," according to the Justice Policy Institute report, while giving to "state-level politicians during the last five election cycles was much higher: $6,092,331."GEO and CCA are also members of the <a href="http://www.alec.org/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(191, 82, 82);">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>--or ALEC--a right-wing public-private nonprofit organization made up of legislators, businesses and foundations. Together, these companies have become the principal forces behind anti-immigrant policies. Through these relationships with politicians from both parties, they have had direct influence over the writing and passage of anti-immigrant bills such as Arizona's SB 1070 and many similar proposals in states across the country.To date, some of the senators in the Gang of Eight have been among the top recipients of contributions from such corporations and PACs. The Migrant Power Alliance, the Dream Action Coalition and other organizations <a href="http://familiesforfreedom.org/news/migrant-power-alliance-denounces-deportations-and-senator-schumer%E2%80%99s-ties-immigration-detention" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(191, 82, 82);">rallied in March outside of Schumer's New York City office</a> to denounce his ties to such anti-immigrant lobbying groups.Schumer, a leading Democrat among the Gang of Eight, has been a public advocate for immigration reform and also a supporter of the federal DREAM Act. Yet he has accepted more than $100,000 in contributions from CCA. Rubio has received close to $27,300 from GEO, while McCain has received more than $32,146 from CCA.The relationship between these corporations and congressional representatives proposing anti-immigrant bills are much more intimate than simply the financial support they receive--many federal legislators are direct shareholders in these companies.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -IN THE face of all of this, the immigrant community has demonstrated strength, resilience and an immense ability to self-organize. Not only has the immigrant rights movement successfully defeated many of these policies, but there has also been a flowering of local groups and national networks made up of grassroots organizations. Undocumented youth and students--known as the Dreamers--successfully pressured Obama to sign deferred action, obtaining work authorization.Undocumented workers have successfully organized and won the ability to unionize at a time when the labor movement has been under continuous attack. They have stopped the detention and deportation of thousands, keeping their families and loved ones together. They have done this by challenging the racism and discrimination they face and by criticizing and holding politicians accountable by means of grassroots organizing, boycotts, strikes, direct action and civil disobedience.Nonetheless, they have been absent from the table and left out of the debate around comprehensive immigration reform. The proposed bill, as it stands today, is legislation not only written in the interest of corporations, but it has also completely excluded the very community it affects. Their stories and experiences have fallen on the deaf ears of the politicians who most claim to support them.Immigrant rights groups, nonprofit organizations, unions and other advocates for genuine reform must continue to challenge these politicians, question their ties to these corporations and criticize this bill for what it really is. We must continue to build the immigrant rights movement that has transcended nationalities.While we have brought the issue of immigration to the forefront of the political debate, the struggle must continue until we are sitting at the table--and able to shape the changes that we've fought so hard to obtain.<a href="https://socialistworker.org/2013/06/11/one-big-gang-of-hate">https://socialistworker.org/2013/06/11/one-big-gang-of-hate</a>=<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/srsly-making-stuff-up-a-winning-legal-strategy">https://www.propublica.org/article/srsly-making-stuff-up-a-winning-legal-strategy</a>5/15 drowning in mediteranian and burma/thai/ bangladeshi=PIC<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=0L30jp2tARPo0PLvSVtjAvn2u%2BV%2FK%2F%2BW" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;">SEVEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT UPRISING AT TEXAS PRIVATE PRISON FOR IMMIGRANTS:</a> Last weekend, a private prison incarcerating immigrant prisoners in Willacy County, Texas erupted into a major uprising. Incarcerated immigrants and advocates have for years been warning that these prisons are tinderboxes of horrendous conditions waiting to explode. (2/23/2015)

http://ktar.com/23/1746787/Buses-with-migrant-families-rerouted-amid-protest

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see also greening of hate:

<a href="http://www.splcenter.org/greenwash-nativists-environmentalism-and-the-hypocrisy-of-hate/the-greening-of-hate-an-essay" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://www.splcenter.org/greenwash-nativists-environmentalism-and-the-hypocrisy-of-hate/the-greening-of-hate-an-essay</a>

By Betsy Hartmann

I first encountered the greening of hate — the scapegoating of immigrants for environmental degradation — when I was invited to debate Virginia Abernethy of the Carrying Capacity Network at an environmental law conference in Oregon in 1994. Although the topic was population, I quickly realized I wasn’t debating a fellow environmentalist or family planning advocate, but rather an anti-immigrant activist for whom population and carrying capacity were euphemisms for circling our wagons and closing our borders. It turns out Abernethy is a member of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens. She opposes racial "mixing."...The argument that it’s better to keep poor people in poor countries so they consume less is just plain wrong on a number of counts. First, it diverts attention from the urgent need to address overconsumption: with only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. presently consumes 20% of its resources. Whatever the rate of immigration, well-off Americans need to change their lifestyles for the future of the planet.

Second, the assumption that immigrating to the U.S. necessarily turns people into super-consumers is a spurious one. Many immigrant communities bring with them traditions of greater respect for the environment. In my hometown of Amherst, Mass., Cambodian immigrants helped spur a revival in community gardens. In nearby Holyoke, Puerto Rican immigrants are revitalizing the depressed city in one of the most successful urban renewal and agriculture projects in the country, Nuestras Raíces (Our Roots).

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<h1 class="print-title">Scaife-Funded Network Works Hard to Kill Immigration Reform</h1>

<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35278/prw-staff" title="View user profile.">PRW Staff</a> [1] — May 31, 2013 - 8:25am</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-2">Topics: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics/right-wing">Right Wing</a> [2], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/front-groups">Front Groups</a> [3], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy">Democracy</a> [4], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/human-rights">Human Rights</a> [5], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/international">International</a> [6], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/lobbying">Lobbying</a> [7]</li>

</ul>

</div>

<div class="content clearfix"><a class="da2a_button" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2013%2F05%2F12128%2Fscaife-funded-network-works-hard-kill-immigration-reform&linkname=Scaife-Funded%20Network%20Works%20Hard%20to%20Kill%20Immigration%20Reform" id="da2a_1"><img src="/080e85d9-318d-5920-be37-cb98b1eaca7c.png"/> Share this</a> [8]

-- By Katie Lorenze

With immigration reform advancing through Congress, an anti-immigrant network funded by a small group of right-wing foundations is trying to kill reform by pressuring moderate Republicans and appealing to the party's xenophobic wing. The groups could stymie efforts by some Republicans to appeal to the country's growing Latino population by moving to the center on immigration.

The anti-immigration Federation for American Immigration Reform (<a href="http://www.fairus.org/" target="blank">FAIR</a> [9]) and others are using shoddy research methods to claim that immigration is at fault for a whole host of problems in America, from crime to <a href="http://www.fairus.org/publications/immigration-fueling-u-s-income-inequality" target="blank">income inequality</a> [10]. ProEnglish, a lobbying organization that advocates for "<a href="http://proenglish.org/about-us/mission.html" target="blank">official English</a> [11]," has released a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/pro-english-group-launches-ad-campaign-to-take" target="blank">video</a> [12] attacking Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for his work on the immigration bill. The Center for Immigration Studies has <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=8cbd56caad16c74c7ff47a4bf3bfabdf&wit_id=8cbd56caad16c74c7ff47a4bf3bfabdf-2-4" target="blank">testified</a> [13] in Congress against reform, claiming "virtually all illegal aliens are guilty of multiple felonies." All of these organizations are connected to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/08/1981521/john-tanton-pioneer-fund/" target="blank">John Tanton</a> [14], a nativist who has formed a <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2002/summer/the-puppeteer/john-tantons-network#.UZZsQxybOlY" target="_blank">network</a> [15] of radical anti-immigration groups, all of which receive a significant portion of their funding from foundations tied to the Scaife family.

<h2>John Tanton's Anti-Immigration Network, Bankrolled by the Scaifes</h2>

Tanton was initially a population control advocate connected with the environmental movement -- which now largely <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/how_sierra_club_learned_to_stop_worrying_and_grew_to_love_immigration.html" target="blank">supports</a> [16] immigration reform -- but has since dabbled in eugenics, openly professed his preference for white people, and been <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/publications/the-nativist-lobby-three-faces-of-intolerance/john-tanton-and-the-nativist-movement#.UZ6cVWRARk1" target="blank">tied to white supremacists</a> [17]. Tanton has constructed a powerful array of anti-immigrant groups that for the past three decades has had significant influence over the immigration debate, with the help of millions of dollars from the Scaife family foundations.

Tanton was a <a href="http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2011/09/01/quiz-time-which-single-foundation-almost-solely-bankrolls-the-entirety-of-the-john-tanton-network/" target="blank">close friend</a> [18] of the late Cordelia Scaife May, an heir to the Mellon family's banking and oil fortune, and who until her death in 2005 was one of the richest women in America. Like Tanton, May was an environmentalist committed to population control -- and believed limiting immigration was the best way to do it -- and founded the <a href="http://www.colcomfdn.org/" target="blank">Colcom Foundation</a> [19] to advance this goal, providing tens of millions to anti-immigrant groups as well as funding legitimate environmental organizations. Colcom's Vice President of Philanthropy, John Rohe, worked for Tanton for many years and wrote a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Lou-John-Tanton-Conservation/dp/097100790X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369965249&sr=1-1&keywords=Mary+Lou+and+John+Tanton%3A+A+Journey+into+American+Conservation" target="blank">fawning biography</a> [20]. Since 2001, Colcom has been the primary funder for many groups in the Tanton network, <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=289974" target="blank">giving</a> [21] over $17 million to NumbersUSA and almost $15 million to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, and more than $6 million to the Center for Immigration Studies.

Scaife May's billionaire brother, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_Scaife" target="blank">Richard Mellon Scaife</a> [22], is a major supporter of right-wing causes perhaps best known for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Project" target="blank">bankrolling the effort</a> [23] to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaife092998.htm" target="blank">try ousting</a> [24] President Bill Clinton after "troopergate" and more recently for funding the climate change deniers at the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Enterprise_Institute" target="blank">American Enterprise Institute</a> [25]. Scaife manages the Carthage Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which together with the Scaife Family Foundation (controlled by Richard Scaife's children since 2001) have <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=280115" target="blank">donated more than $4 million</a> [26] to FAIR and <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=275464" target="blank">more than $3 million</a> [27] to CIS since the early 1990s; <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=276159" target="blank">additionally, since 2001,</a> [28] the foundations have given ProEnglish $285,000 and NumbersUSA $987,500. The Scaife Family Foundation is also the <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=276159" target="blank">sole funder</a> [28] of ProEnglish.

Richard Mellon Scaife is also a major funder and <a href="http://www.heritage.org/about/board-of-trustees" target="_blank">Vice-Chairman</a> [29] of the Heritage Foundation, which recently generated controversy for issuing an anti-immigration report written by an author who previously argued that immigrants have lower IQs than the "white native population."

<h2>Congress Debates Immigration Reform and Anti-Immigrant Groups Weigh in</h2>

A bipartisan group of senators announced a broad <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/immigration-reform-framework_n_2566494.html" target="blank">framework</a> [30] for immigration reform in January 2013. The main points of their <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/immigration-reform-framework_n_2566494.html" target="blank">proposal</a> [30] include a pathway to citizenship through provisional status (without access to public benefits), enhanced border security, increased employment verification, and easier access to residency for foreigners with advanced "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) degrees. The so-called "gang of eight," comprised of four Democrats and four Republicans -- Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) -- introduced the immigration reform bill in April. <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d113:s.0744:" target="_blank">S.744</a> [31] (the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act") has been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now awaiting action in the Senate.

Tanton's "immigration-reduction organizations" have wasted no time in fighting the bill with a variety of racially charged claims regarding immigration: <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/20/no-need-for-speed-on-immigration-bill/" target="blank">reform</a> [32] "has the potential to change everything that makes America a great place to be," <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/low-skill-immigration-is-just-another-government-redistribution-program/article/2530095" target="blank">low-skill immigration</a> [33] is "another government redistribution program," <a href="https://www.numbersusa.com/content/learn/illegal-immigration/with-jobless-rates-like-these-how-can-anybody-consider-more-foreign-worker" target="_blank">foreign workers</a> [34] will worsen unemployment, and so on.

The ad from ProEnglish -- a group that fights to end bilingual education and repeal laws providing for official documents in multiple languages -- attacks Sen. Graham for allegedly not requiring English language proficiency to apply for "amnesty." Tanton founded and is still a director of Pro English. But the ad's claims are questionable: under the Senate bill, an applicant will only be granted <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/15/2008971/english-only-group-with-nativist-ties-launches-misleading-ads/" target="blank">registered provisional status</a> [35] if they take courses in <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration/earned-citizenship" target="blank">English and U.S. civics</a> [36], and can only gain permanent residency if they learn English. (Under current law, there is no English language requisite for gaining permanent residency; only when one applies for U.S. citizenship does he or she have to pass an English test).

Other groups in the Tanton network are also campaigning to kill the bill. The executive director of CIS, Mark Krikorian, was one of few who testified against S.744 at the Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/immigration-hearing_n_3134584.html" target="blank">hearing</a> [37] back in April, calling the bill the "No Illegal Alien Left Behind" act. CIS, <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/publications/the-nativist-lobby-three-faces-of-intolerance/cis-the-independent-think-tank#.UabSfGRARk0" target="blank">which Tanton helped found and began</a> [38] as a project of FAIR and shares board members and funders, has tried to portray itself as an independent, mainstream think tank, but is closely tied to the other groups in Tanton's anti-immigrant network.

Another group founded by Tanton, NumbersUSA, has issued reports <a href="https://www.numbersusa.com/content/learn/about/what-numbersusa-all-about.html" target="blank">blaming immigration</a> [39] for "sprawl, congestion, overcrowded schools, lost open spaces and increasing restrictions on ... individual liberty caused by the new population explosion." Their executive director, Roy Beck, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324763404578429132115195430.html" target="blank">said</a> [40] he hopes to tap 1.8 million activists to help thwart the immigration reform bill. In reference to the authorization of foreign workers, Beck added, "The way this bill's written is perfect for our plan to defeat it."

And FAIR (a <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/federation-for-american-immigration-reform-fair#.UaUrcBj9pVo" target="blank">designated hate group</a> [41] founded and initially led by Tanton) set up a campaign to defeat the bill after its release in April, complete with a Washington <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324763404578429132115195430.html" target="blank">talk show blitz</a> [40] of "roughly 40 radio hosts interviewing politicians, law-enforcement officials and others" opposed to the bill. The president of FAIR, Dan Stein, wrote an <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/5-reasons-gop-should-say-no-to-immigration-plan-89896.html" target="blank">op-ed</a> [42] in Politico urging Republican lawmakers to denounce the immigration plan. He gave five reasons for doing so, each of which <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/04/11/fair-presidents-anti-immigration-reform-op-ed-g/193590" target="blank">turned out to be wrong</a> [43]. For example, Stein falsely claimed that "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy will not even allow hearings on a bill" and that Democrats will not agree to border security.

Regardless of their fringe viewpoints, in the past, Dr. Tanton's groups have played a successful role in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/us/17immig.html?pagewanted=all" target="blank">crusading against immigration</a> [44]. Four years ago, NumbersUSA <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/us/politics/15immig.html" target="blank">was key</a> [45] in organizing protest calls to Congress and supplying talking points to legislators to help defeat President George W. Bush's legalization plan. FAIR <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/security/2010/04/22/176018/immigration-reform-law-institute/" target="blank">helped draft</a> [46] the contentious Arizona law, SB 1070, that grants law enforcement the right to question and detain anyone they suspect of lacking proper documentation for lawful presence in the United States. (The law was also <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11454/alec-disbands-task-force-responsible-stand-your-ground-voter-id-prison-privatizat" target="blank">adopted as a model bill</a> [47] by the American Legislative Exchange Council). In addition, in 2010 CIS aimed to defeat the Dream Act, which offers a pathway to citizenship and higher education for minors who were brought to the United States illegally as young children.

<h2>Study From Scaife-Funded Heritage Foundation Enflames the Debate</h2>

Despite past successes in the war against reform, the controversial anti-immigrant lobby might not have the same luck this time around, with many Republicans recognizing that they could lose the growing Latino population for generations if they stand in the way of a roadmap to citizenship.

One example is the speed with which many Republicans fled from a flawed <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Heritage_Foundation" target="_blank">Heritage Foundation</a> [48] report written by an author who has argued that immigrants have lower IQs than the "white native population."

That <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/05/the-fiscal-cost-of-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty%20to-the-us-taxpayer" target="blank">report</a> [49] claimed that a path to citizenship would create a "lifetime fiscal deficit" of $6.3 trillion but the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/06/1971531/heritages-fatally-flawed-study-doubles-down-on-romneys-47-percent/" target="blank">methodology</a> [50] behind these results is questionable (such as not accounting for wage increases of undocumented workers after legalization and classifying children only as receivers of government benefits, instead of eventual contributors to government tax revenue).

Rather than being embraced by Republicans to justify their opposition to reform, it was harshly criticized -- and became radioactive after it was revealed co-author Jason Richwine had argued in his Harvard doctoral thesis that "The average IQ of immigrants in the United States is substantially lower than that of the white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over several generations." Richwine also previously <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/heritage-immigration-study-co-author-penned-articles-nationalist-174301703.html" target="blank">wrote articles</a> [51] for a White nationalist website, <a href="http://alternativeright.com/" target="blank">AlternativeRight.com</a> [52], under titles such as "<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20130120033427/http://www.alternativeright.com/main/the-magazine/model-minority/" target="blank">Model Minority?</a> [53]" and "<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120722210652/http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/hbd-human-biodiversity/more-on-hispanics-and-crime/" target="blank">More on Hispanics and Crime</a> [54]."

Richard Mellon Scaife is the Vice-Chairman of Heritage's board and helped provide the seed money for the Heritage Foundation when it was founded in 1974. And he has remained a top funder of the organization: the Sarah Scaife Foundation gave <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=270461" target="blank">over</a> [55] <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=253673" target="blank">$23.2 million</a> [56] between 1985 and 2011 (and likely <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifemain050299.htm" target="blank">more before that</a> [57]), Scaife's Carthage Foundation has given at least an additional <a href="http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=253676" target="blank">$2.6 million</a> [58], and the Allegheny Foundation gave millions more.

<h2>Growing Tension Among GOP About Immigration</h2>

Although many Republicans dismissed articles like the ones by Richwine as junk or pseudo-science, the lobby of groups that are blaming immigrants for staggering wealth <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/bobdane/2013/05/15/american-workers-ask-whats-in-it-for-me-n1596552/page/full" target="blank">inequality</a> [59], <a href="http://www.fairus.org/issue/examples-of-serious-crimes-of-illegal-aliens" target="blank">crime</a> [60], and importing <a href="http://www.fairus.org/issue/Poverty" target="blank">poverty</a> [61], have embraced the Heritage study, with CIS calling its findings "incontrovertible." NumbersUSA draws on the report's <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/29/2070941/robert-rector-33-million-argument/" target="blank">numbers</a> [62] in a recently released <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y7xqryEuaG4" target="blank">ad</a> [63] campaign against the immigration bill. But they are not alone: even the editorial board of the venerable conservative journal The National Review came out in <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/13/2000351/top-conservative-publication-defends-linking-hispanics-to-low-iq/" target="blank">support</a> [64] of Richwine's "study."

And this demonstrates a growing tension within the GOP establishment. These organizations still hold clout with <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/rubio-norquist-push-back-anti-immigration-groups/story?id=18501953#discredit" target="blank">some members</a> [65] of the party, despite the xenophobic air surrounding much of their anti-immigration message. But other Republicans, like Sen. Marco Rubio and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, are <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/effort-to-change-immigration-law-sparks-internal-battle-within-gop/2013/02/13/2916d164-740a-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html#reports" target="blank">seeking to isolate</a> [66] the John Tanton groups. Interestingly, they are doing it by attacking their conservative bona fides, for example, by pointing out that the groups have argued fallaciously that migration harms the environment.

Rubio, Norquist and the rest of the Republican Party do not want to see the Hispanic vote go primarily to Democrats and they have cause for concern. As the former Director of Florida Hispanic Outreach for Republican National Committee Florida, Pablo Pantoja, stated when he recently <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/05/14/2006251/rnc-director-of-hispanic-outreach-quits-party-and-registers-as-a-democrat" target="_blank">quit the party and registered as a Democrat</a> [67]: "It doesn't take much to see the culture of intolerance surrounding the Republican Party today ... [and] the seemingly harsh undertones about immigrants and others."

<hr />

Brendan Fischer contributed to this article.

</div>

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Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714</div>

<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/12128/scaife-funded-network-works-hard-kill-immigration-reform">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/12128/scaife-funded-network-works-hard-kill-immigration-reform</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35278/prw-staff

[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics/right-wing

[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/front-groups

[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy

[5] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/human-rights

[6] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/international

[7] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/lobbying

[8] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2013%2F05%2F12128%2Fscaife-funded-network-works-hard-kill-immigration-reform&linkname=Scaife-Funded%20Network%20Works%20Hard%20to%20Kill%20Immigration%20Reform

[9] http://www.fairus.org/

[10] http://www.fairus.org/publications/immigration-fueling-u-s-income-inequality

[11] http://proenglish.org/about-us/mission.html

[12] http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/pro-english-group-launches-ad-campaign-to-take

[13] http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=8cbd56caad16c74c7ff47a4bf3bfabdf&wit_id=8cbd56caad16c74c7ff47a4bf3bfabdf-2-4

[14] http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/08/1981521/john-tanton-pioneer-fund/

[15] http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2002/summer/the-puppeteer/john-tantons-network#.UZZsQxybOlY

[16] http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/how_sierra_club_learned_to_stop_worrying_and_grew_to_love_immigration.html

[17] http://www.splcenter.org/publications/the-nativist-lobby-three-faces-of-intolerance/john-tanton-and-the-nativist-movement#.UZ6cVWRARk1

[18] http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2011/09/01/quiz-time-which-single-foundation-almost-solely-bankrolls-the-entirety-of-the-john-tanton-network/

[19] http://www.colcomfdn.org/

[20] http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Lou-John-Tanton-Conservation/dp/097100790X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369965249&sr=1-1&keywords=Mary+Lou+and+John+Tanton%3A+A+Journey+into+American+Conservation

[21] http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=289974

[22] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_Scaife

[23] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Project

[24] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaife092998.htm

[25] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Enterprise_Institute

[26] http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=280115

[27] http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=275464

[28] http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=276159

[29] http://www.heritage.org/about/board-of-trustees

[30] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/immigration-reform-framework_n_2566494.html

[31] http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d113:s.0744:

[32] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/20/no-need-for-speed-on-immigration-bill/

[33] http://washingtonexaminer.com/low-skill-immigration-is-just-another-government-redistribution-program/article/2530095

[34] https://www.numbersusa.com/content/learn/illegal-immigration/with-jobless-rates-like-these-how-can-anybody-consider-more-foreign-worker

[35] http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/15/2008971/english-only-group-with-nativist-ties-launches-misleading-ads/

[36] http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration/earned-citizenship

[37] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/immigration-hearing_n_3134584.html

[38] http://www.splcenter.org/publications/the-nativist-lobby-three-faces-of-intolerance/cis-the-independent-think-tank#.UabSfGRARk0

[39] https://www.numbersusa.com/content/learn/about/what-numbersusa-all-about.html

[40] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324763404578429132115195430.html

[41] http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/federation-for-american-immigration-reform-fair#.UaUrcBj9pVo

[42] http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/5-reasons-gop-should-say-no-to-immigration-plan-89896.html

[43] http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/04/11/fair-presidents-anti-immigration-reform-op-ed-g/193590

[44] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/us/17immig.html?pagewanted=all

[45] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/us/politics/15immig.html

[46] http://thinkprogress.org/security/2010/04/22/176018/immigration-reform-law-institute/

[47] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11454/alec-disbands-task-force-responsible-stand-your-ground-voter-id-prison-privatizat

[48] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Heritage_Foundation

[49] http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/05/the-fiscal-cost-of-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty to-the-us-taxpayer

[50] http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/06/1971531/heritages-fatally-flawed-study-doubles-down-on-romneys-47-percent/

[51] http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/heritage-immigration-study-co-author-penned-articles-nationalist-174301703.html

[52] http://alternativeright.com/

[53] http://web.archive.org/web/20130120033427/http://www.alternativeright.com/main/the-magazine/model-minority/

[54] http://web.archive.org/web/20120722210652/http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/hbd-human-biodiversity/more-on-hispanics-and-crime/

[55] http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=270461

[56] http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=253673

[57] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifemain050299.htm

[58] http://bridgeproject.com/?organization&id=253676

[59] http://townhall.com/columnists/bobdane/2013/05/15/american-workers-ask-whats-in-it-for-me-n1596552/page/full

[60] http://www.fairus.org/issue/examples-of-serious-crimes-of-illegal-aliens

[61] http://www.fairus.org/issue/Poverty

[62] http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/29/2070941/robert-rector-33-million-argument/

[63] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y7xqryEuaG4

[64] http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/13/2000351/top-conservative-publication-defends-linking-hispanics-to-low-iq/

[65] http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/rubio-norquist-push-back-anti-immigration-groups/story?id=18501953#discredit

[66] http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/effort-to-change-immigration-law-sparks-internal-battle-within-gop/2013/02/13/2916d164-740a-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html#reports

[67] http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/05/14/2006251/rnc-director-of-hispanic-outreach-quits-party-and-registers-as-a-democrat

<h2>Filling For-Profit Prisons Through Anti-Immigrant Bills</h2>

Arizona's infamous anti-immigrant legislation, known as SB1070, has been <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741" title="reference on revealed by National Public Radio" target="blank">revealed by National Public Radio</a> to have been crafted by long-time ALEC member Corrections Corporations of America (CCA) and others connected to ALEC. The for-profit prison company, CCA, reportedly helped draft the ALEC "No Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act," which requires state law enforcement enforce federal immigration law, gives private citizens the right to sue law enforcement officers if they do not think the law is being enforced (regardless of other law enforcement priorities such as investigating violent crimes), makes presence on state soil without federal immigration status a criminal offense, and requires that employers use the flawed "e-Verify" system for hiring employees. This model bill became Arizona's SB1070, resulting in legalized racial profiling and more immigrants incarcerated in for-profit prisons operated by CCA. <a href="http://detentionwatchnetwork.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/new-report-via-acluaz-">="" title="reference on According to the ACLU" target="blank">According to the ACLU</a>, "ten percent of the country's detained immigrants are held in five detention centers in Arizona[,] three of them are run by the private Corrections Corporation of America [and there has been] a 58% increase in immigration detention in Arizona over the past six years." Since the beginning of 2010, thirty states introduced anti-immigrant legislation similar to ALEC bills, which also include the "Resolution to Enforce Our Immigration Laws and Secure our Borders" and "Immigration Law Enforcement Act." Five states have passed them: Arizona, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, and Florida.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/10919

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