Legislators Work with Anti-Immigrant Hate Group to Gut 14th Amendment
FAIR President Dan Stein (second from left) poses with State Legislators for Legal Immigration members.
On Wednesday, legislators from the anti-immigrant organization State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) will at the National Press Club their plan to halt what they call 鈥渢he misapplication of the 14th Amendment.鈥� The group seeks to end the amendment鈥檚 provision of , which assured that the children of slaves could not be denied citizenship, and ensures that almost all children born on U.S. soil are automatically granted American citizenship.
Children born to the undocumented have long been a bugaboo for the anti-immigrant movement, which derisively refers to these new American citizens as 鈥渁nchor babies鈥� 鈥� purportedly used by their parents to gain U.S. citizenship for themselves.
SLLI is a coalition of about 70 legislators in 38 states dedicated to eliminating 鈥渆conomic attractions鈥� for immigrants and their 鈥渦nlawful invasion鈥� of the U.S. SLLI leader Daryl Metcalf of Pennsylvania has a long history of making nasty anti-immigrant comments, including referring to undocumented immigrants as 鈥渇oreign invaders鈥� and their children as 鈥渁nchor bab[ies].鈥� In October, Metcalf announced a new SLLI task force to attack birthright citizenship. 鈥淭his ongoing distortion and twisting of the 14th Amendment greatly incentivized foreign invaders to violate our border,鈥� Metcalf at an October press conference.
This harsh rhetoric isn鈥檛 surprising given the relationship between Metcalf, SLLI and the anti-immigrant hate group, (FAIR). SLLI is often described as the of FAIR, which is apt given the group says on its website that it has a 鈥渨orking partnership鈥� with FAIR. SLLI鈥檚 legislators are the main instigators behind favored FAIR initiatives, including attempts at the state level to deny immigrants various rights through laws modeled on Arizona鈥檚 S.B. 1070.
Written by FAIR lawyer Kris Kobach and passed last April, S.B. 1070 is a harsh anti-immigrant measure that makes the failure of non-citizens to carry immigration documents a crime and obligates police to check immigration status when there is 鈥渞easonable suspicion鈥� that someone is undocumented. It is currently held up in federal court, as are many anti-immigrant laws originally written and promoted by FAIR.
FAIR鈥檚 designation as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center is well deserved. FAIR鈥檚 founder and chief ideologue, , has repeatedly questioned the 鈥渆ducability鈥� of immigrants. He has corresponded with Holocaust deniers, former Klan lawyers and the leading white nationalist thinkers of the era. He introduced key FAIR leaders to the president of the , a white supremacist group set up to encourage 鈥渞ace betterment,鈥� at a 1997 meeting at a private club. He encouraged a major financial supporter to read the work of anti-Semitic professor 鈥� to 鈥済ive you a new understanding of the Jewish outlook on life鈥� 鈥� and suggested that the entire FAIR board discuss the professor鈥檚 repugnant theories on the Jews.
Tanton went so far as to creating a 鈥淟eague for European-American Defense, Education and Research鈥� or LEADERs, to use Tanton鈥檚 acronym. LEADERs would defend 鈥渙urselves and our tradition against attacks,鈥� counter 鈥渢he denigration of Western culture鈥� which Tanton wrote is 鈥渦nder siege,鈥� and stop the 鈥渞eduction of the European-American demographic and cultural majority to minority status.鈥� (For more on Tanton鈥檚 anti-immigrant racism, read ).
But Tanton, who has been by FAIR鈥檚 leadership, isn鈥檛 the only FAIR leader to bash immigrants or cavort with racist organizations. Dan Stein, the group鈥檚 president, has warned that immigrants are engaged in 鈥渃ompetitive breeding鈥� aimed at diminishing white power. He has also said that, 鈥淚mmigrants don't come all church-loving, freedom-loving, God-fearing鈥any of them hate America, hate everything the United States stands for.鈥� Stein also the 1965 Immigration Act, which ended the racial quotas that had restricted American immigration to Northern Europeans, as 鈥渁 key mistake in national policy鈥� and a 鈥渟ource of error.鈥�
FAIR鈥檚 history of racism is far more extensive than described here. Prominent FAIR staffers have held membership or written for other hate groups, in particular the , which has described African Americans as a 鈥渞etrograde species of humanity.鈥� The group has received funding from the neo-Nazi Pioneer Fund. (For a full accounting of why the Southern Poverty Law Center lists FAIR as a hate group, please read .)
Apparently, FAIR鈥檚 nasty track record of hate is of no bother to Metcalf or SLLI. Their press conference Wednesday will feature FAIR lawyers Kobach 鈥� who is the newly elected secretary of state of Kansas 鈥� and Michael Hethmon as speakers.
