EXTERNAL MEMORANDUM

TO: Members of Congress

FROM: FWD.us
RE: Understanding the Opponents of Legal Immigration
__________________________________________________________________________

As the Senate debates increased border security and permanent protections for Dreamers this week, some
members are demanding massive cuts to legal immigration in exchange for protecting young people who
came to this country as children. It is important to understand that legislation focused on slashing legal
immigration levels has been the longtime policy agenda of the anti-immigration movement, led by the
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and
NumbersUSA, all founded and funded by avowed eugenicist, Zero Population Growth and sterilization
proponent John Tanton. They are funded by the estate of Cordelia Scaife May, who left a $400 million
fortune to fund the cause of immigration restrictionism through these groups. These groups grew out of
the radical population control movement and are focused on policies to ensure radical population
reductions - that means FEWER PEOPLE, period.

Since DACA’s rescission, these anti-immigrant restrictionist organizations have worked aggressively to
leverage Dreamers to achieve massive cuts to legal immigration. ​All of these groups were founded by
John Tanton, the author of “The Case for Passive Eugenics” and they are working today to further
his ​goal of only allowing (the) “intelligent ones” to procreate​.​ Tellingly, FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA
are currently led by individuals who have for years worked directly with Tanton himself, and share his
radical ideology. For example FAIR President Dan Stein ​recently stated publicly that Americans would
“be perfectly fine if we didn’t have another immigrant for 50 years​.” CIS Executive Director Mark
Krikorian who has referred to immigrants as “a poor, problem-ridden demographic,” ​authored a book
titled: “The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal​,” and NumbersUSA Executive
Director Roy Beck ​has said that the goal should be to “halt all immigration possible​,” and has ​bragged
about doing “as much as possible to make immigration radioactive in as many places as possible.”

Congress should should reject massive cuts to legal immigration in exchange for Dreamer
protections. There are currently zero economists - zero - who have suggested that a 50% reduction
in legal immigration has any economic rationale.

Given the urgent moment, we ask each Member of Congress to take seriously the true intent and nature of
these organizations.

FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA - What You Need to Know

For years, the anti-immigration movement has been led by three main organizations: the Federation for
American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA, ​all
of which were founded and funded by an avowed eugenicist​, John Tanton. These are NOT conservative
groups - and in fact have ties to the radical population control movement that started in the 1970s. They
aggressively promote hardline policies to slash LEGAL immigration and deport as many of the 11 million
as possible. Their admitted goal is to eliminate virtually ALL immigration to the U.S., and they advocate
for their extreme ideology and policy proposals with the help of like-minded wealthy donors like the
Colcom Foundation​, whose founder, Cordelia Scaife May, the late oil heiress, left more than $400M to
her foundation to promote population control measures.

These groups have spent a decade trying to leverage the promise of a Dream Act in exchange for
MASSIVE cuts to legal immigration and more​, and their CURRENT leadership including FAIR’s
President Dan Stein have supported extreme measures like ​“voluntary infanticide​,” and ​eugenics​. ​Tucker
Carlson​ has written for the Wall Street Journal about FAIR’s ties to the eugenics movement, including the
“more than $1.5 million from the Pioneer Fund, a white-supremacist outfit devoted to racial purity
through eugenics."

● FAIR President Dan Stein ​recently stated publicly that Americans would “be perfectly fine if we
didn’t have another immigrant for 50 years​.”
● CIS Executive Director Mark Krikorian who has referred to immigrants as “a poor,
problem-ridden demographic,” ​once authored a book titled: “​The New Case Against
Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal.​”
● NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy Beck ​has said that the goal should be to “halt all
immigration possible​.”

How These Groups Were Founded by Leaders of the Eugenics Movement

● John Tanton - author of “​The Case for Passive Eugenics”​ founded FAIR in 1979, CIS in 1985,
and helped Roy Beck to found NumbersUSA in 1996.
● His goal is to maintain a white majority in the U.S. via reductions in immigration, and ​previously
wrote​, “I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to
persist requires a European-American majority.”
● Tanton and his allies funded ​forced sterilization efforts​ ​throughout the developing world for
decades, and have a history of attacking pro-life leaders, including in the Catholic church.

What is FAIR and What Do They Do?

● FAIR is the primary lobbying organization of the anti-immigrant movement​. They work to
advance eugenics-based policies that smear hardworking immigrants, and their ​self-described
mission​ is to “reduce overall immigration… [including] legal immigration levels.”
● Stein shares Tanton’s interest in eugenics and once ​posed the idea of prioritizing reproduction
based on IQ score​: “Should we be subsidizing people with low IQs to have as many children as
possible, and not subsidizing those with high ones?”
● FAIR’s legal arm, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) supports FAIR’s mission through
backdoor legal assaults and senseless legislation drafted by the group’s counsel, Kris Kobach,
who ​collects hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees​ to defend these laws while they
bankrupt local economies.

What is CIS and What Do They Do?

 ● CIS is the primary academic research organization of the anti-immigrant movement​,
founded to be “a small think tank [to] wage the war of ideas” of its parent organization FAIR ​to
lend academic authority to their extreme policy proposals​.
● Over the years, CIS staffers have ​advocated for the mass deportation of all 11 million
undocumented immigrants in the U.S.​, ​presented​ ​unverifiable anecdotes as established fact,
seriously ​manipulated data​ to generate ​misleading evidence in support of their policies​, ​appeared
on anti-Semitic radio shows​, and ​expressed the desire to lynch then-President Barack Obama​.
Additionally, ​CIS has provided a platform for avowed white nationalists​ to express their extremist
views, and in the last decade has circulated their content ​more than 2,000​ times.
● CIS has published reports by discredited policy analyst, and ​contributor​ to white nationalist
Richard Spencer’s Alternative Right website Jason Richwine, who In 2013,​ resigned from The
Heritage Foundation​ after revelations that his Harvard dissertation included appeals to limit
immigration based on IQ.

What is NumbersUSA and What Do They Do?

● NumbersUSA is the primary grassroots mobilization organization of the anti-immigrant
movement​, with ties to white nationalism, population control, and advocacy for eugenics-based
policies.
● In addition to serving as the former editor of Tanton’s white nationalist publication ​The
Social Contract Press​, NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy Beck previously spoke at an
event organized by the white nationalist ​Council of Conservative Citizens​.
● In a population control paper for Tanton’s site, The Social Contract Press, Beck, a former editor
for the site ​asserted​ that the Catholic Church had engaged in competitive births: “At times, it can
seem as though the church is engaged in population competition.”