John Tanton's Legacy
John Tanton, the racist architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement, has left behind a legacy that spawned more than a dozen nativist organizations, driven an anti-immigrant agenda for four decades, and found friends in the White House.
Tanton created groups that billed themselves as fact-based think tanks and lobbyists. Instead, those groups spread propaganda targeting immigrants that has become central to President Trump鈥檚 immigration policy.
Tanton, 85, died Tuesday in Petoskey, Michigan. The Federation for American Immigration Reform聽(FAIR), an 人兽性交-designated hate group that Tanton launched in 1979, announced his death in a press release.
Tanton鈥檚 anti-immigrant influence goes far beyond FAIR. He founded or funded 13 anti-immigrant organizations, including three of the most influential anti-immigrant groups in the United聽States 鈥� FAIR, the Center for Immigration Studies聽(CIS), and NumbersUSA聽鈥� known as the 鈥淏ig Three.鈥�
These groups spoke at congressional briefings and provided media interviews with mainstream outlets such as the Associated Press and The New York Times, all the while couching their racism in more palatable terms.
The Big Three聽also have close connections with a number of people in the Trump administration. As the president ramps up his anti-immigrant policies, extremists from Tanton鈥檚 network are finding positions of authority within the administration.
Tanton鈥檚聽views were first revealed when a series of private memos he wrote to leaders of FAIR were leaked to the press. In an October 1986 memo he wrote, 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�
FAIR, the action arm of the movement, regularly deploys its employees to lobby legislators to introduce anti-immigrant legislation in state legislatures nationwide. Its lobbying efforts to repeal birthright citizenship听补苍诲 ban sanctuary law span decades.
FAIR鈥檚 self-described mission is to reduce overall immigration and has big allies in, or connected to, the White House. Allies include former employees Julie Kirchner, who now serves as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ombudsman, , an official at the State Department, and Ian Smith. Smith had stints at the State Department and Domestic Policy Council but ultimately had to resign聽in August 2018 after leaked emails 聽him to white nationalists Richard Spencer听补苍诲 Jared Taylor.
Center for Immigration Studies, the think tank of the movement run by Mark Krikorian, regularly publishes discredited reports about immigrants. CIS reports have been widely criticized and debunked by groups such as the Immigration Policy Center and the CATO Institute. Still, the hate group has gained legitimacy in Trump鈥檚 administration.
In early 2017, Stephen Miller, a senior advisor in the White House, cited a CIS study in defending Trump鈥檚 executive order聽banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. 鈥淔irst of all, 72 individuals, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, have been implicated in terroristic activity in the United States who hail from those seven nations, point one,鈥� Miller said on NBC鈥檚 鈥淢eet the Press." Fact-checkers at The Washington Post .
In April 2016, CIS published a 鈥渨ish list鈥� of policies, many of which have been implemented聽by the Trump administration. These policies range from terminating the diversity visa lottery program, to refugee admissions. In September 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the 聽since the passage of the Refugee Act in 2018.
Krikorian appears in the press and on television programs ranging from Fox & Friends, where he spoke about immigration with former ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan, to C-SPAN, where he defended the inclusion聽of material from the white nationalist site VDARE in CIS鈥檚 weekly newsletter.
VDARE聽is an anti-immigration, white nationalist hate site founded by Peter Brimelow 鈥渄edicated to preserving our historical unity as Americans into the 21st Century.鈥� Brimelow says VDARE.com was an idea that 鈥渇lowed out of the best-selling book I wrote back in 1995, Alien Nation,鈥� an anti-immigrant book about Brimelow鈥檚 perspective on how the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 changed the United States. According to a Nov.聽2, 1995, memo聽by Tanton, he 鈥渆ncouraged Brimelow to write his book,鈥� and 鈥減rovided the necessary research funds to get it done.鈥� On July 17, 2019, Brimelow , 鈥淰ery sad to hear of John Tanton鈥檚 passing 鈥� great immigration patriot. 'Truly a citizen who has taken up arms for his country,'聽in Robert E. Lee鈥檚 phrase.鈥� He linked to a VDARE article about Tanton鈥檚 legacy.
NumbersUSA聽is the grassroots organizer of the anti-immigrant movement. The group聽sends action alerts urging its followers to contact their representatives in support of anti-immigrant legislation.聽Roy Beck, the executive director of the organization, has tried to distance the group and himself from Tanton and his legacy. However, in a memo, Tanton wrote Beck asking him to sign on as his 鈥� heir apparent鈥� in the case of his death and thanked him the next day, Jan.聽6, 1998, for doing so.
Beck was also a longtime editor聽for Tanton鈥檚 The Social Contract Press聽(TSCP), a white nationalist group that publishes articles written by white nationalists. In 1994, while Beck was still an employee, TSCP published an English translation of the openly racist French book, The Camp of the Saints. Tanton wrote that he was 鈥渉onored鈥� to republish the novel.
Tanton was critical to securing initial funding for a number of these organizations, including by introducing leaders聽of FAIR to the Pioneer Fund. The Pioneer Fund鈥檚 original mandate was to pursue 鈥渞ace betterment鈥� by promoting the genetic stock of those 鈥渄eemed to be descended predominantly from white persons who settled in the original thirteen states prior to the adoption of the Constitution.鈥� Tanton himself said聽in 1993, 鈥淚鈥檝e come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.鈥�
These groups still are able to thrive thanks to grantmakers including the Colcom Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation. Political Research Associates published a 聽this year detailing more than $100 million being given to FAIR, CIS听补苍诲 NumbersUSA alone from 2006 鈥� 2016. Other groups within this network, including Californians for Population Stabilization听补苍诲 Immigration Reform Law Institute, FAIR鈥檚 legal arm, boast more than聽$7 million each during this same period.
Tanton鈥檚 legacy is difficult to overstate. Other groups within the network also are experiencing mainstream success. ProEnglish, an anti-immigrant hate group that lobbies for English only legislation and policies across the country, met with Trump and aides to Vice President Mike Pence multiple times in 2018 and as recently as July 11 of this year. Executive director Stephen Guschov聽recounted the last meeting in a . He said it was about,聽"official English legislation and to continue to advocate for President Trump to sign a new Executive Order to effectively repeal and replace former President Clinton鈥檚 onerous Executive Order 13166 that requires foreign language translations and interpretations for all federally funded agencies and contractors.鈥� ProEnglish鈥檚 former executive director is Robert 鈥淏ob鈥� Vandervoort, who is also the former head of the white nationalist group Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance. That group is a satellite for white nationalist hate group聽American Renaissance.
Tanton鈥檚 influence is seen in state legislatures, and especially at the federal level, where his mentees and allies have imbibed his material, enacted his policies, and sold a rehabbed version of Tanton, critically leaving out his explicitly racist views.
On July 17, FAIR president Dan Stein published a , calling Tanton 鈥渁 selfless giver of his time and talents in the interests of a better tomorrow.鈥� He added, "For John, the big reward was to see a number of the organizations he helped conceive grow into tall oaks 鈥� guiding and shaping the public discourse in history-changing ways.鈥�
Leaders of groups within Tanton鈥檚 network regularly obfuscate Tanton鈥檚 racist views or their connections to Tanton himself. In a spring 2018 聽of The Social Contract Press, Tanton wrote a blog directly attempting to do the same with NumbersUSA and CIS. He wrote:
NumbersUSA, an organization I helped start, but on whose board I do not serve, has also made stellar contributions to the immigration reform debate. I also helped raise a grant in 1985 for the Center for Immigration Studies, but I have played no role in the Center鈥檚 growth or development.
In September 1986, a year after CIS was founded as a project of FAIR, it became independent, but the relationship with Tanton was far from over. The same year, Tanton wrote a memo聽discussing the need to get CIS properly functioning: 鈥淲e need to get CIS fully funded and entrenched as a major Washington think-tank, one that can venture into issues, which FAIR is not yet ready to raise.鈥� Eight years later, in 1994, Tanton wrote聽that he聽still was setting聽鈥渢he proper roles for FAIR and CIS.鈥�
Jared Taylor, the white nationalist who created American Renaissance, was a close friend聽of Tanton.
During the latest episode of Taylor鈥檚 podcast, 鈥淩adio Renaissance,鈥� he mourned Tanton鈥檚 death, praising him as a man who 鈥渂ecame very concerned about the demographic future of the United States.鈥� His pseudonymous cohost, Paul Kersey, hailed Tanton鈥檚 legacy through the groups he founded that ensured 鈥渢hese ideas would flourish.鈥� Taylor added: 鈥淓verything I know about immigration I learned from CIS.鈥�
Photo illustration by 人兽性交
