Profile of John Tanton

Who is this man?    None other than anti-immigrant activist John Tanton.  He was persuasive enough to attract some prominent voices to U.S. English, but a 1986 memo backfired big-time. Asserting that immigrants’ higher birth rates would lead to a nation dominated by their descendants, he wrote: “Perhaps this is the first instance in which those with their pants up are going to get caught by those with their pants down!” Walter Cronkite and the group’s executive director, Linda Chavez, quit in protest. Eventually Tanton stepped down. But he went on to found nearly a dozen other groups. Tanton has tempered his rhetoric in recent years. But Clarissa Martinez, policy director for the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy organization, finds it a source of endless frustration that his organizations, which she regards as hate groups, have been treated as credible actors in Washington policy debates, testifying at congressional hearings, offering research and even winning a contract with the Census Bureau.   For a Washington Post story profiling Tanton, click here.  The story nicely outlines Tanton’s environmental arguments for increased immigration restrictions.

KJ