America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/30/09 at 06:28pm

Progressives for Immigration Reform, Just Another Extreme Group?

John Tanton YikesYikes.

Eric Ward at Imagine2050.net has the story about the latest, well-disguised but extreme front group called Progressives for Immigration Reform:

Real progressives would do well to prepare in the coming months. The civil rights organization Center for New Community announced in the most recent edition of its e-bulletin, FAIR Exposed, that the Tanton Network has launched a front group called Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR). PFIR is simply another addition to a growing list of anti-immigrant groups being set up under the Tanton Network to give the illusion that the anti-immigrant movement is broader than it really is.

This network of organizations is named after white nationalist John Tanton the founder and key leader in a network of anti-immigrant organizations, spin-offs and front groups. Key entities include Center for Immigration Studies, Social Contract Press, and the Coalition for the Future American Worker.

John Tanton is a controversial figure. The founder and a current board member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Tanton helped secure over a million dollars in funding from a foundation known as the Pioneer Fund, a racist foundation that peddles pseudo-science claiming that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites based on cultural and biological factors. In the 1930s the Pioneer Fund distributed propaganda films developed by the Nazi Germany to public schools.

John Tanton, pictured above, is indeed the mastermind of the anti-immigrant movement in the United States. If you haven't yet, check out this video, called "Wolves," that talks about the organizations that have shifted our immigration debate toward the ugly, irrational, and xenophobic:

 

Kudos to Eric for keeping the spotlight on these wolves in sheep's clothing.

 

Comments

With regard to Dr. Tanton: Yes, he has said some despicable things (though he has also been a leader in several left-of-center organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, the Audubon Society, Zero Population Growth, and the Sierra Club): It is absurd to assert that a retired backwoods eye doctor is a “puppetmaster,” pulling the strings of all these major organizations, which are led by, and work with, people from the left to the right.  Ironically, some of the same people who are associates of these allegedly Tanton-controlled organizations also work with the organizations making these claims (such as the SPLC).


The issue of immigration to the United States is so multi-faceted (and involves so many aspects of life, in so many areas), that there are strong intra-movement political cleavages, within both the left and the right.

<a >Here is a past New York Times article</a> that overviews these left-left / right-right divisions.

On immigration, there has been a diversity of groups and individuals <a >calling for lower numbers</a>. The <a >President Clinton-endorsed</a> U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, which took a strong stance in favor of deporting illegal aliens, increasing penalties on business that hire them, and reducing legal immigration, was headed by the very-liberal civil rights attorney and Democrat leader Barbara Jordan - she is still <a >today regarded as</a> an icon of American politics (Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both took time, towards the beginning of one of their presidential debates, to praise her legacy).

I am glad to see that this Progressive organization is based upon the work of the Jordan Commission.

Other prominent minority-American leaders have criticized the disproportionate impact that mass immigration has had on minorities, and prominent labor and environmentalist leaders have criticized the devastating impact it has on blue-collar workers, and on the environment. For the SPLC and Eric Ward to label these diverse criticisms - many of which come from minorities, liberals, and Democrats - as well as those on the Right - as “hate” and “racism” is ridiculous, and damaging to the discourse, regarding this important issue.

“Progressives” (i.e. - liberals) <a >have long been at the forefront</a> of urging immigration reduction. Today, many workers-rights advocates, from the left, continue to oppose amnesty programs (mislabeled “comprehensive immigration reform”); the only self-described Socialist in the U.S. Senate, Bernie Sanders of VT, <a >is one of them</a>.

It was just a few days ago that people celebrated “Cesar Chavez Day” - Chavez <a >was a strong proponent of restricting immigration</a> (and the UFW used tactics much harsher than the Minutemen). In a march he led against illegal immigration, he was joined by civil rights leader Ralph Abernethy and future Democrat presidential nominee Walter Mondale (D-MN).

Some liberals have said that support for illegal immigration <a >is a weapon used by conservatives</a> to undercut progressive ideals.

Liberal commentators, such as Paul Krugman, Froma Harrop, Tom Leykis, Bonnie Erbe, Alan Kuper (“the Voice of the Sierra Club”), and others have taken stances in favor of immigration restrictions.

And some of the leading environmentalist leaders in America - including Paul & Ann Ehrlich, David Brower, Edgar Wayburn, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-MN), Brock Evans, and others, have advocated for immigration reduction, so as to achieve population stabilization. For this reason, Congressman Harry Reid (D-NV) proposed a bill to sharply reduce legal immigration. The Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society have both (until relatively recently) called for reductions in immigration to the United States.


<a >We’ve discussed this many times before</a>.  Much of the <a >reasoning behind immigration reduction</a> is very-much <a >consistent with liberal (i.e. - “progressive”) values</a>, so it is no wonder that so many on the left (along with many on the right), take this position.

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