May 26, 2009
As many anti-immigrant groups blur the line between discussions of immigration policy and outright bigotry towards non-white immigrants, white supremacists and anti-Semites have become increasingly supportive of those groups whose rhetoric matches their own anti-immigrant sentiment. Extremists exploit the legitimacy of these anti-immigrant groups to advance their own hateful ideology and possibly expand recruitment.
Specifically, extremists have voiced support for Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), which claims to support "control and reversal" of undocumented immigration but really disseminates its message with virulent, anti-immigrant rhetoric. White supremacists and anti-Semites have promoted the group by engaging in activity on its behalf and posting links to ALIPAC's Web site on their own Web sites and forums.
Taking Action on Behalf of ALIPAC
White supremacists and racist skinheads have encouraged their followers to engage in activity on behalf of ALIPAC. These calls to action have included the promotion of ALIPAC-directed protests, rallies, and citizen lobbying of elected officials.
- The Vinlanders Social Club, a hardcore racist skinhead group based primarily in the Midwest, posted a piece to its Web site in which ALIPAC called for participation in the April 15 Tea Party, anti-tax protests that took place in cities across the country. The announcement on the Vinlanders Web site encouraged "supporters to attend the rallies and to setup tables where possible to circulate fliers…"
The Vinlanders have also encouraged their members and followers to lobby elected officials as a part of an ALIPAC campaign to secure the passage of anti-immigrant legislation. The Vinlander Web site administrator posted the lobbying instructions from ALIPAC in addition to a message which read, "Please take 20 minutes to assist."
- Western Voices World News (WVWN), the news Web site of the white supremacist European Americans United group, featured information about an April 2009 demonstration organized by ALIPAC and two other groups in North Carolina. In addition to language about the demonstration's purpose, which was to support anti-immigrant legislation, readers on the white supremacist site were given the date, time, and mapped location of the event so that they could participate.
WVWN also posted an article from the ALIPAC Web site which called on supporters to contact their Congressional representatives to demand that the Obama Administration close the American-Mexican border in the wake of the H1N1 flu outbreak. Anti-immigrant groups are exploiting the epidemic to advance their demonizing claims against Mexico and its people as disease carriers.
Promoting ALIPAC's Activity and Statements
Additionally, anti-Semites and white supremacists posting on extremist forums promote ALIPAC, its activity, and Gheen's statements. These extremists look to ALIPAC and use the group's Web site and ideology to fuel their own hatred of non-white immigrants.
- In a post to the forum of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), the largest neo-Nazi group in the country, a Texas-based member wrote that he signed one of the group's petitions (which he referred to as a "pention"). Like other neo-Nazi groups, the NSM has worked to capitalize on anti-immigration sentiment in America, both to spread its hateful message and recruit a larger following.
- The Vanguard News Network forum, run by neo-Nazi Alex Linder who gave the forum a slogan of "No Jews, Just Right," features discussion threads in which individuals posted links to the ALIPAC Web site and other Gheen-related material. For example, in early 2009, an individual using the screen name "ZOG CONTROL" praised and posted links to two of Gheen's Internet radio shows. He also commented that "Gheen is not able to be openly pro-White." (ZOG refers to the "Zionist Occupied Government," a phrase used by anti-Semites to suggest that the Jewish people are engaged in a conspiracy to control not only government bodies, but several other social institutions.)
- The administrator of the forum of the Vinlanders Social Club posted a request from ALIPAC for individuals to lobby an Indiana government official to facilitate the passage of legislation which would empower local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law and mandate that employers verify the immigration status of their employees. Forum members responded by taking action and, as one Kentucky-based member wrote, "joining the fight."
- Links to ALIPAC's Web site and support for the group appears in several places on Stormfront, the largest and most popular white supremacist forum. One member provided a link to ALIPAC's site and wrote that the group "holds some of our tenents [sic]." Another member posted a link to the list of ALIPAC's upcoming events, and under each post made by a Texas-based Stormfront member, a call to "PLEASE SUPPORT ALIPAC" is featured.
Featuring links to and Complete Pieces from the ALIPAC Web site
Anti-Semitic and white supremacists Web sites also feature links to and complete pieces from the ALIPAC Web site.
- In early April 2009, the Web site of American Free Press, a virulently anti-Semitic newspaper, featured a front-page link to an article on the ALIPAC Web site. The newspaper's Web site also featured a November 2008 article by Gheen and information about ALIPAC.American Free Press is published by Willis Carto, one of the most influential American anti-Semitic propagandists of the past 50 years. Carto also publishes The Barnes Review, a Holocaust denial magazine.
- The Web site of American Renaissance, a white supremacist journal, has featured a number of articles that either originate from ALIPAC's Web site or discuss the group. Most recently, the American Renaissance Web site posted an April 2009 piece written by William Gheen in which he described his experience at an anti-immigrant event at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. American Renaissance described ALIPAC as a "non-white pressure group."
- David Duke, an anti-Semite and white supremacist, has featured several pieces from ALIPAC on his Web site, including articles about the group's activity. Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, was arrested in April 2009 in the Czech Republic on suspicions that he was spreading Holocaust denial.