What is So Progressive About ‘Progressives for Immigration Reform’? Um, Nothing.

June 23, 2009 by Jill Garvey
Filed under: Immigration, Politics 
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FAIR front group, Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), is continuing to assert itself into mainstream discourse. The John Tanton network of anti-immigrant groups have a long history of trying to hoodwink the public, so it comes as no surprise that they started an organization of fake progressives. The lame-duck group just released a “study” on self-identified liberals’ feelings on immigration.

Leah Durant, PFIR executive director, quoted herself in PFIR’s press release saying:

“The results of this poll demonstrate what many on the political left have known for some time. Immigration is not a partisan issue. There are many progressives and liberals that are concerned about the unintended consequences that large scale immigration has on the environment, economy, and other issues that many liberals are concerned about,”

I couldn’t agree more Leah! This certainly is not a partisan issue. So why did PFIR’s parent group, FAIR, build the House Immigration Reform Caucus (HIRC), that is overwhelmingly Republican? Why does HIRC support immigration policies that do not in any way align with liberal or progressive politics? Congratulations on finding out that progressives are concerned about immigration, Leah! You could have saved yourself a bit of money by just calling me up. You see, over here at Imagine 2050 we are actually progressive. And therefore not associated with white nationalism. You are. Do you think progressives will still want to talk to you once they find out your not-so-progressive past?

Let’s find out. Here is the real deal on Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR):

  • John Tanton’s colleague Roy Beck (and former consultant and editor of Tanton’s quarterly journal, The Social Contract Press) helped staff PFIR by circulating an employment letter for PFIR’s executive director in June 2008.
  • Leah Durant, PFIR executive director, was a legal analyst for John Tanton’s anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and helped revamp FAIR’s legal arm, Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) in 2005.
  • Frank Morris, PFIR’s vice president, is also a board member of John Tanton’s white nationalist think-tank Center for Immigration Studies and is a member of the national board of advisers for Tanton’s Federation for American Reform (FAIR).
    • Vernon Briggs is the author of PFIR’s first policy paper and a close colleague of John Tanton since 1984. In 1995 Tanton solicited $25,000 from eugenicist Garrett Hardin “to enable Vernon Briggs to update his book…” according to a John Tanton letter. Briggs is currently a board member of Tanton’s think-tank, Center for Immigration Studies, and was a board member of Tanton’s quarterly journal, The Social Contract Press.
  • The founder of FAIR, John Tanton, his colleagues, advisory board members and staff members have a long history of supporting and working closely with well-known white nationalist leaders and organizations across the nation.
  • John Tanton solicited and received 1.2 million from the Pioneer Fund in 1997 to financially support FAIR. The Pioneer Fund was founded to promote the genes of white European Americans and financially supports those who promote the pseudo-science, eugenics.
  • In a 1995 letter to eugenicist Garret Hardin, John Tanton wrote of his communication with Dr. Robert K. Graham (founder of “Repository for Germinal Choice,” a sperm bank that only received donations from Nobel Prize laureates):
  • PFIR’s sister organization, the House Immigration Reform Caucus (HIRC) has an alarming voting record on environment and labor issues, one that nearly mirrors the far right.
  • According to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, 86 HIRC members scored a zero in support of labor during the 109th Congress.*
  • According to Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights campaign, over half of HIRC members scored a zero in the 109th Congress.*

    • FAIR, Eugenics, & John Tanton:

    “I have been meeting with Dr. Robert Klerk Graham, founder of the foundation of germinal choice…we have been having discussions about trying to revitalize the eugenics theme, though perhaps not under that name”

    *Source http://www.newcomm.org/content/view/59/88/1/8/

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