Civil Rights: Immigration

Xenophobes Take Up Anti-Government Cause

Continuing its exploitation of hot-button issues to gain a greater following, the anti-immigrant movement is increasingly appropriating anti-government language and events. Hoping to take advantage of the growing current of anger among a segment of the American public which staunchly opposes the administration's policies on health care, taxes, and a range of social issues, established xenophobic groups are sending speakers to town hall meetings and Tea Parties, staging similar events of their own, and incorporating anti-government leaders and rhetoric into their own movement.

Birther figure Orly Taitz to headline xenophobic group meeting – Garden Grove, California

On November 25, Orly Taitz will be speaking at a meeting of the anti-Hispanic hate group, California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), led by racist Barbara Coe. Taitz, a California-based lawyer and dentist, has advanced anti-Obama conspiracy theories and filed numerous law suits against Obama alleging that he does not have a legal birth certificate and is therefore unable to serve as President. In a letter thanking Taitz for agreeing to speak at the CCIR meeting, Coe wrote, "We hope you will share with us…how we, as citizens can more effectively support YOUR efforts to insure the fraud Obama is removed from the office of President of the United States."

Tea Parties Against Amnesty – Nationwide

"Calling for a peaceful, political revolution and uprising in America now," the North Carolina-based Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), a xenophobic group, is planning to stage nationwide "Tea Parties Against Amnesty & Illegal Immigration" on November 14. ALIPAC claims to have over fifty events planned in several states, with more than 4700 "supporters." Notable xenophobic activists are running some of the individual Tea Parties, including:

• Anna Gaines, the Arizona-based founder of the xenophobic American Citizens United group who also served as a local contact point for You Don't Speak for Me (YDSFM), an offshoot of the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR);
• Rosanna Pulido, the founder of the Illinois Minuteman Project who has also served as a YDSFM spokeswoman and a FAIR field representative; and
• Dan Smeriglio, a Pennsylvania-based anti-immigrant activist who led the xenophobic Voice of the People group.

ALIPAC's leader William Gheen has a history of using the tea party movement to serve his own purposes. He attended an April 15 tea party in Raleigh, North Carolina, hoping to gain followers among the attendees protesting high taxes. He repeatedly blended the immigration and tax themes and called out, "If anybody's tired of paying high taxes for illegal immigration, we [ALIPAC] need your support."

Alarmist anti-government article from Minuteman Project –Nationwide

In a November 2, 2009 article, Stephen Eichler, the Executive Director of the Minuteman Project, a border vigilante group, charged that the nation is facing "malevolent control of the throng of National Socialists." He went on to employ alarmist language to conjure fear of the government in readers, specifically asserting that "vile and contemptuous hordes have seized control of Washington" and that "safeguarded freedoms of over 300 years [will] slip into oblivion." He voiced confidence that the citizenry can "reverse this horrible blight of National Socialism and save America.

Xenophobic leader suggests need to "throw this established order down" – North Carolina

ALIPAC leader William Gheen was a panelist at a town hall-style meeting convened by opponents of Obama's health care plan, dubbed a "constitutional town hall" in August 2009 in Raleigh, North Carolina. After criticizing the "superstructure" of the United States, involving the media, politicians, and corporations, he argued that "you're not going to see…change until you throw this established order down. It will take nothing short of a political revolution in this country…" He continued to explain how Americans need to stymie the "nation-breakers" that the Obama administration and Congress are allegedly attempting to "pass."