Where Anti-Immigrant Zealots Like Lou Dobbs Get Their "Facts"

[marmar]

from the Intelligence Report, via AlterNet:



Where Anti-Immigrant Zealots Like Lou Dobbs Get Their "Facts"

By Heidi Beirich, Intelligence Report. Posted December 17, 2007.

The media keeps turning to racist group FAIR for its "expertise."




The forces seeking to sharply reduce the number of immigrants coming to America won a stunning victory last June, when nativist anger at an "amnesty" for the undocumented scuttled a major bipartisan immigration reform package backed by President Bush. Many members of Congress were completely unprepared for the flood of angry E-mails, phone calls and faxes they received -- an inundation so massive that the phone system collapsed under the weight of more than 400,000 faxes.

They should not have been surprised. The furious nativist tide was largely driven by an array of immigration restriction organizations that has been built up over the course of more than 20 years into fixtures in the nation's capital.

The vast majority of these groups were founded or funded by John Tanton, a major architect of the contemporary nativist movement who, 20 years ago, was already warning of a destructive "Latin onslaught" heading to the United States. Most of these organizations used their vast resources in the days leading up to a vote on the bill to stir up a nativist backlash that ultimately resulted in its death.

At the center of the Tanton web is the nonprofit Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the most important organization fueling the backlash against immigration. Founded by Tanton in 1979, FAIR has long been marked by anti-Latino and anti-Catholic attitudes. It has mixed this bigotry with a fondness for eugenics, the idea of breeding better humans discredited by its Nazi associations. It has accepted $1.2 million from an infamous, racist eugenics foundation. It has employed officials in key positions who are also members of white supremacist groups. Recently, it has promoted racist conspiracy theories about Mexico's secret designs on the American Southwest and an alternative theory alleging secret plans to merge the United States, Mexico and Canada. Just last February, FAIR President Dan Stein sought "advice" from the leaders of a racist Belgian political party.

FAIR officials declined repeated requests for comment. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/70489/

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Be aware that there are two"FAIRs"

One is the racist Federation for American Immigration Reform, while the other is "Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting," which critiques the mainstream media from a left-wing point of view.