Seeking Access to Historical Papers of Anti-immigrant Powerhouse, John Tanton

w:User:FredElbel743, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

John Tanton might not be a familiar name to you, but you’re undoubtedly familiar with his legacy. Tanton was a founder of three well-known anti-immigrant organizations: the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies, and NumbersUSA.

Mother Jones has the fascinating story of one man’s quest to access to a store of Tanton’s personal papers that Tanton bequeathed to his alma mater, The University of Michigan, under the requirement that many remain sealed until April 6, 2035. Hassan Ahmad, an immigration attorney in Virginia, wants access sooner.

The papers are kept in “25 cardboard boxes containing correspondence, memos, legal filings, news clips, and photographs—documents dating from 1960 to 2007.” 14 boxes have been made public. The rest are not.

“If what is known of Tanton’s anti-immigration crusade has provided a blueprint for many of the most restrictive policies of the past and present, Ahmad wonders, could the secret papers provide more clues about his proposed playbook for the future?”

Ahmad has tried using FOIA requests to access the non-public records. U Michigan denied that the documents were covered by FOIA, given that they weren’t actually public records at all. Ahmad appealed, and lost. He filed a second suit in Michigan state court, lost, won on appeal, and the case headed to the Michigan Supreme Court. No decision has yet been handed down.

Those opposing disclosure of the Tanton files worry that without honoring access restrictions like the one Tanton demanded, “controversial figures” might otherwise destroy valuable historical records. Those seeking disclosure of the files, on the other hand, argue that it’s in the public interest to expose the “underpinnings of the modern anti-immigrant movement.”

-KitJ