By Paul Volpe | September 9, 2008; 8:35 AM ET

New Immigration Ads Stir the Melting Pot
UPDATE: The Federation for American Immigration Reform is fighting back against a full-page ad placed in two Capitol Hill newspapers today painting the organization as an extremist hate group. In a statement release this afternoon, FAIR called the ad a "smear" campaign by a coalition of pro-immigration groups, which includes the National Council of La Raza.

"The ad utterly distorts FAIR's 30-year record of advocacy on immigration reform and merely parrots previous distortions," the statement said. Accusing La Raza of overusing the "hate group" label for anyone who disagrees with its pro-immigration policies, the FAIR statement added, "Considering how many Americans oppose amnesty and support the enforcement of our immigration laws, this coalition might want to consider whether they wouldn't simply save themselves time and money and simply call the American public in whole a hate group."


A coalition of pro-immigration groups is running a full-page ad today in the Capitol Hill newspapers Roll Call and Politico to protest a lobbying blitz this week by the anti-immigration group FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The ad, paid for by America's Voice and the Service Employees International Union, among others, asks, "When Did Extreme Become Mainstream?" And it notes FAIR has been "designated as a HATE GROUP by the Southern Poverty Law Center."

The ad includes three racially explosive quotes; one from John Tanton, founder of FAIR, saying, "As whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?" FAIR president Dan Stein is quoted saying, "Should we subsidizing people with low IQs to have as many children as possible?" Another quote in the ad, attributed to former Colorado governor Richard Lamm, a former FAIR advisory board chairman, says: "New cultures [in the U.S. are] diluting what we are and who we are."

The last quotation is placed next to a photo of a group of white men with their heads shaven holding red flags, some with their right arms extended upward. Another photo shows a couple of burly vigilantes carrying rifles, patrolling a border.

A Web site printed at the bottom of the ad - wecanstopthehate.org - belongs to the National Council of La Raza, the Hispanic civil rights group. "The rhetoric of hate groups, nativists, and vigilantes has taken over the lexicon of the public debate; their policy positions frame the country's political discourse, and their members have infiltrated the media as well as the ranks of those seeking to lead our country," the Web site says. "In short, hate and extremists are defining the debate on immigration -- and the portrayal of Hispanic Americans -- at every level."

FAIR is getting a big boost this week from the TV world's most famous anti-immigration zealot, Lou Dobbs, who will participate in the organization's annual "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" lobbying event in Washington, which is presented as an immigration reform lobbying effort.

In a press release last week touting the anti-immigration lobbying event, FAIR's Dan Stein praised Dobbs as a "champion of the embattled middle class, explaining how the immigration policies formulated and executed in Washington consistently undermine the interests of ordinary Americans."

Paco Fabian, spokesman for America's Voice, one of the groups behind the full-page ad slamming FAIR, hopes members of Congress don't take the FAIR lobbyists seriously. "Having them pose as serious lobbyists on immigration reform is about as credible as big oil spearheading price controls on gasoline," Fabian says.



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