The Washington Times Again Cites Dubious Anti-Immigrant Sources
The Washington Times is at it , pushing anti-immigrant views while citing questionable sources. On today鈥檚 front page, Stephan Dinan about a new ad campaign by the Coalition for the Future American Worker (CFAW) that calls for fewer immigrant workers. Dinan鈥檚 article 鈥 which cites no union sources 鈥 implies that immigration is bad for the American worker.
CFAW鈥檚 campaign includes an inflammatory TV ad featuring a white couple sitting at a kitchen table with a baby crying in the background. The husband tells his wife he failed to get a job, because 鈥渢hey hired all foreign workers.鈥 CFAW was harshly in 2004 for running racially inflammatory ads in an attempt to influence a Texas congressional campaign.
Though CFAW portrays itself as a group that represents 鈥渢he interests of American workers,鈥 not one union participates in its 鈥渃oalition.鈥 Dinan did not report that, nor did he report that CFAW is, in fact, a front group for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the largest anti-immigration organization and the recipient of more than $1 million in grants from the racist Pioneer Foundation. One of the members of CFAW鈥檚 coalition is the (AICF), which is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. AICF that immigrants have 鈥渟own the seeds of ethnic strife in America.鈥
CFAW鈥檚 coalition is incestuous, with several organizations that are founded, financed or led by a tiny handful of anti-immigrant activists. For example, John Tanton founded both FAIR and NumbersUSA. Roy Beck, who runs NumbersUSA and worked for many years for Tanton, heads several of CFAW鈥檚 other constituent groups. Dinan also cites Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which was established under and whose creation Tanton in 1986. Krikorian claims in Dinan鈥檚 article that immigrants and their children will potentially add 105 million new residents to the U.S. by 2060 鈥 an outlandish number that would require nearly the entire population of Mexico to move to the US.
The connection to Tanton, who is the , is particularly problematic given his history of anti-Latino bigotry. Tanton has to the level of other races and he endorses and publishes the racist novel Camp of the Saints. (For a description of the book鈥檚 racism, see .)
FAIR has been creating false front groups for years, usually in an attempt to hide the predominantly white face of American鈥檚 anti-immigration movement. FAIR bankrolls Choose Black America, which supposedly represents African Americans who want to restrict immigration. In fact, the group is basically one man, . FAIR also bankrolls You Don鈥檛 Speak for Me!, a supposedly Latino group that favors immigration restrictions. As in the case of , the group has only a handful of participants and its media contact, Ira Mehlman, works for FAIR.
If Dinan really wanted to report on the labor movement鈥檚 view of American immigration policies, he could have talked with the AFL-CIO. The group, along with other unions and the American Civil Liberties Union, last week the Department of Homeland Security over its plans to force businesses to check Social Security numbers against the department鈥檚 records in an attempt to root out undocumented workers. They contend that the policy would lead to harassment against anyone who looks or sounds foreign.