ANTI IMMIGRATION Godfather John Tanton

John Tanton is the godfather of the ANTIs. He has been credited for creating the modern ANTI-immigration, English-only and Nativist political movements in the United States. Over the past 30 years, he has managed to create a network of think tanks, advocacy groups and fund raising organizations that not only shape public opinion, but public policy. His experts testify before Congress. He formed F.A.I.R., NumbersUSA, ProAmericanPAC,etc.

Non peer reviewed reports and studies by his various groups are used to formulate legislation. His pundits appear in all forms of media to pontificate and propagandize. (ex: Ira Mehlman is a frequent pundit on Lou Dobbs or Tucker Carlson shows.) His websites provide their members Free FAX Services and Form Letters to Congress & the Media. By his own admission he says, "I would certainly have no reservations about claiming credit for being the guy secretly manipulating U.S. immigration policy." http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2006/6/30/101846/714

John H. Tanton, M.D. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tanton is a retired eye surgeon from Petoskey, Michigan, the founder of U.S. English, the founding chairman of ProEnglish, and publisher of The Social Contract Press, serving as editor for its first eight years. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and University of Michigan Medical School.

Tanton considers himself an ardent conservationist and advocate for the environment. His belief that continued human population growth was a large part of world environmental problems led him to chair the National Sierra Club Population Committee (1971-1974), and to the national board of Zero Population Growth (1973-1978, including a term as president, 1975-1977). In 1979, as immigration became the primary source of U.S. population growth, Tanton organized the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) based in Washington, D.C. Tanton also founded, along with a few other FAIR board members, a group called WITAN -- short for the Old English term "witenagemot," meaning "council of wise men."

In 1986, Tanton signed a memo that went to WITAN members that some believed went too far in its characterization of Hispanics saying Latin American immigrants brought a culture of political corruption with them to the United States, and that they were unlikely to involve themselves in civil life. He raised the alarm that they could become the majority group in U.S. society. He asked: "Can homo contraceptivus compete with homo progenativa?"

According to Tanton, "In California 2030, the non-Hispanic Whites and Asians will own the property, have the good jobs and education, speak one language and be mostly Protestant and 'other.' The Blacks and Hispanics will have the poor jobs, will lack education, own little property, speak another language and will be mainly Catholic.“

Furthermore, Tanton raised concerns about the "educability" of Hispanics. In 1988, the media published this Tanton memo, which caused a number of former supporters of U.S. English to cut ties with the organization, including Walter Cronkite and eventually its director Linda Chavez, who went on to become an analyst with the Center for Equal Opportunity. John Tanton would also resign from U.S. English over the controversy.