人兽性交

ProEnglish opposes bilingual education and the translation of government documents, like voters鈥� ballots, into any language other than English, making life harder for immigrants and people for whom English is not a first language. ProEnglish regularly derides multiculturalism and has a history of embracing white nationalists. Tanton hoped to preserve America鈥檚 white hegemony by severely limiting 鈥� if not outright halting 鈥� immigration, especially by people of color.

In Their Own Words

"Aside from the fact that assimilation and Americanization have been crucial to our success as a heterogeneous nation, not having English as the sole language of our government and schools is creating miscommunication among people, adding to mounting taxpayer expense and even posing a serious public safety hazard." 鈥� Former ProEnglish Executive Director Robert Vanderdoort, Washington Times , October 2015.

鈥淲e really appreciate having you on the bill and, as you know, you mentioned Balkanization. One of the problems we are facing in this country: we used to be a melting pot; we're getting away from that with multiculturalism. What are your thoughts on that?鈥� 鈥� Former ProEnglish Executive Director Robert Vanderdoort, March 2016, interviewing U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, about co-sponsoring the English Language Unity Act, which sought to designate English as the official language of the United States. The bill did not pass.

鈥淭o many patriotic Americans, the ad looked like a naked promotion of divisive multiculturalism. ProEnglish promptly sent a letter to Coca-Cola鈥檚 CEO, explaining how the ad undermined America鈥檚 linguistic unity and discouraged assimilation. We have yet to receive a response.鈥� 鈥� The English Language Advocate newsletter, Spring 2014, in response to a Coca-Cola Co. advertisement that aired during the 2014 Super Bowl where 鈥淎merica the Beautiful鈥� was sung in a variety of languages. The ad was not pulled.

鈥淭hese demographic trends and the reemergence of linguistic diversity and linguistic-cultural segregation have been reinforced and facilitated by other trends. One has been a decided shift in the attitudes of American intellectuals and cultural elites away from assimilation into the prevailing American culture and the ideal of the 鈥榤elting pot,鈥� toward 鈥榤ulticulturalism鈥� and its closely related manifestation in multilingualism, in which maintaining group identity is the overriding goal.鈥� 鈥� K.C. McAlpin, 鈥淲hy English Should Be the Official Language of the United States?鈥�, obtained from ProEnglish website January 2023.

鈥淩ep. [Steve] King fully understands the connection between advocating for official English legislation and cultural assimilation. They go together like a hand in a glove. ProEnglish greatly appreciates Rep. King鈥檚 Twitter comment on assimilation and his excellent leadership in authoring and driving the passage of the English Language Unity Act in the United States House of Representatives.鈥� 鈥� ProEnglish Executive Director Stephen Guschov, 鈥淩ep. Steve King and Assimilation鈥� article, December 2017.

Background

Founded in 1994, ProEnglish鈥檚 main goal is for English to be declared the official language of the United States. The group works to accomplish this in a variety of ways. ProEnglish is born out of the English-only movement and the group鈥檚 message has been amplified by figures like former President Donald Trump.

ProEnglish regularly lobbies for legislation at the national and local level to designate English as the official language. The group actively works to oppose translating government documents to any language other than English. Some of the group鈥檚 core agenda includes working against bilingual education and multilingual ballots. Such intiatives are representative of what ProEnglish calls 鈥渄ivisive multiculturalism.鈥� ProEnglish staffers also claim language translation efforts are a threat to national identity leading to the 鈥淏alkanization鈥� of the U.S. Balkanization is a trope frequently used by the anti-immigrant movement to suggest diversity and multiculturalism will lead the U.S. to a fate similar the Balkan conflict of the 1990s, which resulted in the breakup of former Yugoslavia.

Tanton鈥檚 ProEnglish

ProEnglish, formerly called U.S. English Advocates, was the second attempt by Tanton to establish an English-only advocacy group.

In the 1980s, Tanton founded ProEnglish鈥檚 predecessor U.S. English Advocates, which pushed for English-only legislation at the state level. As the civil rights organization Western States Center reports, 鈥淭anton was able to recruit high-profile figures for U.S. English鈥檚 board such as Walter Cronkite and Linda Chavez.鈥� But during a battle over English-only legislation in Arizona in 1988, racist memos attributed to Tanton surfaced. In the memos, Tanton proposed questions like, 鈥淲ill Blacks be able to improve (or even maintain) their position in the face of the Latin onslaught?鈥� and 鈥淎s whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?鈥�

The memos forced Tanton to step away from the group and saw Chavez and Cronkite resign from their board positions. Tanton then founded U.S. English Language Advocates in 1994, which was later renamed ProEnglish.

ProEnglish is a project of U.S. Inc., an umbrella organization founded by Tanton in 1981 to fund his various anti-immigrant endeavors. Other projects housed under U.S. Inc. include The Social Contract Press, which was responsible for publishing the anti-immigrant quarterly The Social Contract as well as putting on an annual writers鈥� workshop event that regularly attracted anti-immigrant figures. The Social Contact published its last issue in 2019 after Tanton鈥檚 death.

ProEnglish has shared staff and board members with U.S. Inc. over the years. Unlike the other groups he founded, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Tanton remained actively involved with ProEnglish until 2017. He was then moved from the active board to the board emeritus where he remains listed.

K.C. McAlpin, a close confidant of Tanton, served as executive director of ProEnglish until 2010. During his tenure, McAlpin oversaw ProEnglish鈥檚 mission, including opposition to Puerto Rico鈥檚 statehood without a concession to make English the official language. ProEnglish鈥檚 hardline stance on Puerto Rican statehood remains one of its core issues.

In a 2009 newsletter outlining the group鈥檚 opposition to H.R. 2499, which would鈥檝e guaranteed Puerto Rican statehood, McAlpin wrote, 鈥淎dmitting a linguistically and culturally distinct territory like Puerto Rico as a state without first making English our sole official language is asking for trouble.鈥�

McAlpin has a history of making incendiary remarks. In 2010, he defended an editorial written by The Social Contract editor Wayne Lutton that called for banning Muslim immigration to the U.S. According to McAlpin, 鈥淐ongress has used that power in the past to ban the immigration of Communist Party and National Socialist (Nazi) party members who were deemed to be threats to our national security. This case is no different.鈥�

In a 2010 issue of The Social Contract focused on the "The Menace of Islam," McAlpin penned a piece in which he called the Muslim religion 鈥渁 hostile, intolerant, and totalitarian ideolog鈥� that needs to be 鈥渜uarantined in the failed states it has already infected, and not allowed to spread.鈥�

McAlpin took over as president of U.S. Inc. in 2010 and moved to the ProEnglish board of directors, where he remains as of publication. Jayne Cannava then replaced McAlpin as ProEnglish鈥檚 executive director after previously serving as the group鈥檚 director of government relations.

ProEnglish board

The ProEnglish board of directors also includes Phil Kent, a Georgia-based communications consultant and media commentator. Kent once served as a spokesperson for , another 人兽性交-designated anti-immigrant hate group. In 2011, Kent was appointed by former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to serve on the Immigration Enforcement Review, a state panel created by a contemporary anti-immigrant law. The panel鈥檚 goal was to 鈥渞eview and investigate complaints related to illegal immigration and it will hold the authority鈥� to sanction those found to have violated Georgia鈥檚 immigration law.鈥� The panel was in 2019 after receiving only complaints from two citizens over the years. Notably, one came from D.A. King of the Dustin Inman Society.

Kent has been published by the Citizens Informer, a tabloid associated with the 人兽性交-designated white nationalist hate group Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC). White supremacist mass shooter Dylann Roof claimed CofCC was his gateway into white nationalism. In a 1999 issue of the Citizens Informer, Kent defended CofCC, claiming they had been 鈥渢argeted for demonization by the political leadership of the Left and its media allies.鈥�

In 2011, ProEnglish named Rosalie Porter its board chair. Porter has promoted ProEnglish鈥檚 agenda, including bilingual education in schools in her home state of Massachusetts.

In a 2017 with BBC Boston, Porter sided with Senior Trump Adviser Stephen Miller about requiring immigrants who obtain green cards to be able to speak English. She noted the U.S. is a diverse nation and does a lot to accommodate immigrants but advocated that a pause on immigration may be needed. 鈥淟ook, nobody today is recommending that we stop immigration, but only in the past 40 years our population in the United States has doubled, and 60% of that increase is from immigration,鈥� she said. 鈥淢aybe we should look at reducing the level of immigration.鈥�

In a 2016 newsletter, ProEnglish announced Paul Nachman had joined its board of advisors. Nachman founded the nativist group Montanans for Immigration Law Enforcement. He is also a regular contributor to the white nationalist blogsite VDARE, where he has noted his admiration for the racist French dystopian novel The Camp of the Saints and mused about 鈥淕reat Replacement鈥�-style ideas. As of publication, Nachman was not listed on the group鈥檚 advisory board.

Enter Robert Vandervoort

In 2011, ProEnglish hired a new executive director, Robert Vandervoort, who came with his own baggage of white nationalist associations. Vandervoort is the former head of the white nationalist group Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance, a satellite for American Renaissance, a group founded by Jared Taylor, one of America鈥檚 most well-known white nationalists.

In 2012, Vandervoort鈥檚 ProEnglish sponsored a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on 鈥淭he Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity.鈥� The panel was moderated by Vandervoort and featured prominent white nationalists Peter Brimelow and John Derbyshire of the 人兽性交-desginated hate group VDARE. During his remarks, Brimelow lamented multiculturalism and claimed bilingualism can lead to the dispossession of those who are not bilingual.

Vandervoort presented remarks on behalf of Serbian anti-Islam commentator Serge Trifkovic, who was unable to attend but still provided a speech on 鈥渢he harm multiculturalism presents to Western Civilization as a whole.鈥�

A friend in Steve King

The event also featured then-U.S. Rep. Steve King, one of ProEnglish鈥檚 most strident advocates. During the event, King said he read Brimelow鈥檚 books and later The American Prospect he was a fan of the white nationalist鈥檚 writing.

King also used the panel to promote the latest iteration of the English Language Unity Act of 2011, which seeks to declare English as the official language. King wrote the original version of the bill in 2005. ProEnglish has supported it for over a decade. It has been reintroduced into Congress in various forms since then with various sponsors.

In 2008, King was ProEnglish鈥檚 鈥淭heodore Roosevelt American Unity Award,鈥� which is given to members of Congress whom 鈥淧roEnglish鈥檚 board feels has shown outstanding leadership in the battle to make English our official language.鈥�

King has returned the favor. In a 2012 fundraising email for ProEnglish he said, 鈥淭he organization has a long history of opposing harmful things like bilingual ballots, bilingual education, and the admission of territories as states that have a language other than English as their official language 鈥� such as Puerto Rico.鈥�

King is known for his nativism and associations with other anti-immigrant hate groups like FAIR. King鈥檚 rhetoric has mirrored white nationalist conspiracy theories of a 鈥淕reat Replacement鈥� taking place in the U.S. In 2016, speaking favorably of Islamophobic Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders, King , 鈥淲ilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can鈥檛 restore our civilization with somebody else鈥檚 babies.鈥�

In 2019, King was removed from his committee assignments after an interview with The New York Times during which he asked, 鈥淲hite nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization 鈥� how did that language become offensive?鈥� A year later he lost his primary election. Post-Congress, King has embraced the hard right and was a featured speaker at the annual white nationalist conference put on by American Renaissance in November 2022. He also on a web show associated with white nationalist figure Jason Kessler in January 2023.

King was not the only ally ProEnglish in Congress. In 2016, the group awarded U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise with its 鈥淯nity Award.鈥� Reps. Jim Inhofe, R-Iowa, and Louie Gohmert have also introduced and co-sponsored the English Language Unity Act multiple times.

During CPAC 2016, Vandervoort interviewed U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, R-Tex., another supporter of ProEnglish. Vandervoort asked Babin what he thought about the 鈥淏alkanization鈥� of the country, saying, 鈥淲e used to be a melting pot; we're getting away from that with multiculturalism. What are your thoughts on that?鈥� Babin responded, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a disaster.鈥�

New leadership

Vandervoort left ProEnglish in 2016 and was replaced by Sam Pimm, who was shortly replaced by current executive director Stephen Guschov in 2017. Guschov previously served as executive director at the Florida-based anti-immigrant hate group Legal Immigrants for America. Prior to that he was employed at the anti-人兽性交 hate group Liberty Counsel.

ProEnglish has continued its mission under Guschov. In 2017, ProEnglish had a booth at Values Voter Summit (VVS, but now renamed as Pray, Vote, Stand), an annual event convened by the anti-人兽性交 hate group Family Research Council. ProEnglish wrote in a blog post they were 鈥渁ble to engage an enormous number of VVS attendees, speakers, and organizational leaders about the urgent need for official English legislation in the United States.鈥� They added they looked forward to returning the following year.

In October 2017, ProEnglish held a legislative briefing to discuss its high priority legislation. The group was joined by legislative counsel, who gave an update on the English Language Unity Act and the RAISE Act. The RAISE, or Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act, is another bill supported by ProEnglish.

According the , 鈥淭he bill seeks to significantly reduce levels of legal immigration to the United States by drastically cutting off some family-based categories, redefining others, and eliminating the diversity visa. It would also substitute the existing employment-based system with a narrow and rigid points system.鈥� The Council highlighted some of the negatives and challenges the Trump-supported bill would create, including gender bias, age discrimination, fewer opportunities for less-skilled immigrants and the potential to break up families by eliminating some current categories of family-sponsored immigration.

Like other anti-immigrant groups, ProEnglish opposes comprehensive immigration reform. Specifically, the group said it 鈥渙pposes any amnesty鈥� that is not tied to requiring immigrants to learn English. ProEnglish also opposes the DREAM Act, which gives immigrants brought to the United States as children protected status. The group laments, 鈥淥nce they [DREAMERS] receive their amnesty, they can immediately turn around and sponsor their parents for legal status under the current Chain Migration law.鈥�

Many groups comprising the Tanton network oppose 鈥渃hain migration鈥� also known as family unification programs. In a 2019 oabout the vilification of the term 鈥渃hain migration,鈥� professors Arissa H. Oh and Ellen Wu note immigration destructionists use the term as a pejorative and intend it to be 鈥渁 rallying cry for those who are alarmed at the country鈥檚 increasing racial diversity and who feel that it threatens the essential character of America. By closing off family-based migration, the right aims to effectively enact a racial restriction under a seemingly neutral guise 鈥� and thus reverse the browning of America to preserve its narrowly conceived, white American culture,鈥� the authors add.

The Trump years

In 2018, ProEnglish urged President Trump to repeal former President Clinton鈥檚 Executive Order 13166, which requires Federal agencies to provide language translation services. ProEnglish has long advocated the repeal of the executive order, claiming it is costly to taxpayers and promotes 鈥渄ivisive multilingualism.鈥�

ProEnglish enjoyed access to the White House while Trump was in office. In 2018, ProEnglish published a blog on its website saying Guschov and ProEnglish Director of Government Relations Dan Carter met with a Trump aide to discuss 鈥渁 variety of official English legislation issues.鈥�

The blog continued, 鈥淭he White House meeting, which occurred in the East Wing, focused on Trump administration support for the English Language Unity Act, the RAISE Act, the COST Act, and also the possibility of President Trump repealing former President Clinton鈥檚 onerous Executive Order 13166 with a new Executive Order signed by the President.鈥�

ProEnglish noted that Vice President Mike Pence was a co-sponsor of English-only legislation as an Indiana state legislator. ProEnglish claims they visited the White House six times while Trump was in office. None of ProEnglish鈥檚 suggested bills or executive orders were passed.

Continuing its agenda

The group remains close to others comprising the Tanton network. ProEnglish staff regularly attend FAIR鈥檚 annual radio and networking event, Hold Their Feet to the Fire, which takes place in Washington, D.C. Guschov recapped the group鈥檚 participation in FAIR鈥檚 2022 event in a post on ProEnglish鈥檚 website. Guschov wrote that his group 鈥渕et with several members of Congress at the FAIR Radio Row event in order to recruit more cosponsors of the English Language Unity Act in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.鈥�

ProEnglish claims on its website the group has 鈥渉it the ground running鈥� in 2023 as the 118th Congress begins its session. According to the group, this includes engaging 鈥渢he offices of several senators and representatives on Capitol Hill, including both those who are new and those who are returning, in an effort to continue to build support for鈥� for English-only legislation.