New 人兽性交 Report Examines Extremist Views of State Lawmakers Attacking 14th Amendment
Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center , 鈥淎ttacking the Constitution: State Legislators for Legal Immigration and the Anti-Immigrant Movement.鈥� It documents the radical beliefs of 12 leading members of a coalition called State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI). The group is pushing harsh, anti-immigrant legislation across the country and announced in January a national campaign to attack the 14th Amendment鈥檚 guarantee of citizenship for all children born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction of its laws.
SLLI, which has about 65 members in 40 states, was founded by Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe in 2007. As the 人兽性交鈥檚 report documents, SLLI鈥檚 members embrace a raft of radical beliefs, including conspiracy theories about supposed government concentration camps, a coming one-world government and false claims that President Obama is a foreigner and Muslim. Members have described undocumented immigrants in vicious terms, as 鈥渋nvaders鈥� or as a 鈥減oison.鈥�
Metcalfe has said that immigrant parents 鈥渓ive the life of a criminal鈥� and should have their children taken away. He has routinely demonized undocumented immigrants as criminals, despite studies that clearly show immigrants are on average much less criminal than native-born Americans. Metcalfe鈥檚 extremism is about more than immigration. He once denounced Pennsylvania鈥檚 Domestic Violence Awareness Month as part of the 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥� because it included men as possible victims of domestic violence. He characterized military veterans concerned about climate change and foreign energy dependence as traitors promoting a 鈥渓eftist agenda.鈥� And, like others in the so-called 鈥渂irther鈥� movement, Metcalfe has cast doubt on Obama鈥檚 U.S. citizenship.
Other SLLI members have expressed similarly radical ideas. , an Oklahoma legislator, has claimed the federal government had advance knowledge of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and engaged in a 鈥渃over-up.鈥� Matt Shea, a Washington legislator, appeared on conspiracy theorist radio show and expressed concerns about supposed . Sally Kern, an Oklahoma legislator, told a newspaper that she opposed high-resolution driver鈥檚 license photos because she believed they were a sign of the end times. And Danny Verdin, a South Carolina state senator who described undocumented immigrants as a 鈥減oison鈥� and a 鈥渕alady鈥� during a SLLI press conference, has compared the fight against undocumented immigrants to the Confederacy鈥檚 struggle against the Union.
There are additional reasons to be concerned about SLLI. The group works very closely with the , which the 人兽性交 has designated as an anti-immigrant hate group because of its white nationalist agenda and ties to racist groups (a chapter of the report documents FAIR鈥檚 hateful agenda and ties). FAIR lawyers have authored the harsh anti-immigrant legislative proposals SLLI members are pushing in their respective states, including the group鈥檚 proposals to undermine the 14th Amendment.
The nativist descriptions of foreign 鈥渋nvaders鈥� bearing all kinds of social ills that come from the likes of Metcalfe and FAIR are hardly new in America. Similar attacks on disfavored groups of the moment have marked our history from the very beginning. During the 1866 congressional debate leading up to the 14th Amendment鈥檚 adoption two years later, for example, Sen. Edgar Cowan of Metcalfe鈥檚 home state of Pennsylvania raged against the idea of children of Chinese immigrants and Gypsies 鈥� the 鈥渁nchor babies鈥� of yesteryear 鈥� becoming citizens by virtue of being born here. He argued, much like today鈥檚 white nationalists, that citizenship should be preserved for 鈥減eople of my own blood and lineage, people of the same religion, people of the same beliefs and traditions.鈥� Cowan warned against 鈥渁 flood of immigration of the Mongol race鈥� and, sounding a lot like Metcalfe, of the country being 鈥渋nvaded.鈥�
The original debates over the 14th Amendment reveal something more (the relevant pages of The Congressional Globe on the debate can be found , and ). Though SLLI contends that the 14th Amendment has been misapplied to grant automatic U.S. citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants, it is clear from the record that the Amendment鈥檚 sponsors did intend for it to cover the children of non-citizens. Sen. John Conness of California, who rose in defense of the undocumented of that time, said that the children of the Chinese and Gypsies born in this country should be 鈥渞egarded as citizens of the United States.鈥� No person 鈥渃laiming to have a high humanity,鈥� he argued, could take a contrary position.
Thankfully, Cowan鈥檚 racist views about immigrants did not win the day, as his fellow senators rose in defense of immigrants by voting for the 14th Amendment.
