According to an article on hispanicbusiness.com: “The Southern Poverty Law Center has issued a report on the work of three organizations that it labels those ‘most responsible for blocking comprehensive immigration reform in 2007.’ The center, famous for its work in civil rights litigation and anti-hate education, said that all three organizations — Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Center for Immigration Studies and NumbersUSA — were founded and funded by John Tanton, whom the SPLC refers to as ‘the ‘puppeteer’ of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots.”
Add to these the “reputable” cable news organizations with certain anchors who choose to selectively report on the issue of immigration and who routinely quote representatives of these anti-immigration (both legal and illegal) organizations as authorities on the subject, and you have the perfect storm for blocking CIR.
Average Americans will not examine the issue in great debth and may get their news on ghe subject simply from watching CNN or Fox News for an hour or two. If the audience tunes into a particular show or anchor regularly, and has it pounded into their heads that immigration is bad for the country – they have little reason to question that premise. Add to that a very vocal and well-organized anti-immigration movement with ideologies that only a minority of Americans agree with, and one is left with no useful progress towards improving our nation’s immigration system. Remember, the organizations mentioned in the article oppose immigration, not only “illegal immigration”. The undocumented are simply an easy target with which to rile up a certain segment of the population. Illegal immigration is only the first step of these organizations’ not so subtle attempts to reduce or ideally eliminate all immigration to the United States.
