Lobbying Battle Over Immigration: The Empire Strikes Back!

Mary Ann Akers on The Sleuth blog of the Washington Post has an interesting story (with almost as interesting comments that follow it) about how a coalition of pro-immigration groups ran a full-page ad in Roll Call and Politico to protest a lobbying blitz this week by the anti-immigration group FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform.  FAIR founder John Tanton and leaders (Richard Lamm and Dan Stein) are quoted in the ad.  FAIR cries foul and denies that it is racist.  The official FAIR response is here. 

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.”

For related blogings, click here and here.

KJ