Center for Immigration Studies
Encyclopedia
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is a non-profit research organization that advocates Immigration reduction in the United States. Founded in 1985, its executive director is Mark Krikorian
. As a 501(c)(3) organization, it is subject to limits or absolute prohibitions on engaging in political activities. The organization describes itself as non-partisan. Media sources describe it as a "non-partisan" or a "conservative" organization.
Its mission statement states:
Several of the founding members are still on the Board, which is headed by former U.S. Attorney Peter Nunez and also includes T. Willard Fair from the Urban League of Greater Miami.
Contemporary funding comes from several sources. The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Weeden Foundation are major funders. They have also completed contract work for the Census Bureau and the Department of Justice
. They also receive donations from the Combined Federal Campaign (#10298) as well as donations from individuals.
The Center took this stance (as opposed to amnesty for illegal aliens or mass deportations) because the two represent, "a false premise: Since the federal government can't quickly deport the 10-12 million illegal aliens, the only alternative is legalization -- i.e., amnesty."
He rejects the plausibility for mass deportations for three main reasons:
is currently a voluntary program run by the United States government to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the United States. Formerly known as the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program, the program is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration
.
A 2008 Backgrounder by the Center uncovered some key points regarding E-Verify:
The author of the study, former 9/11 Commission
staffer Janice Kephart, stated:
immigration and border management system. The system involves the collection and analysis of biometric data (such as fingerprint
s), which are checked against a database to track individuals deemed by the United States to be terrorists, criminals, and illegal immigrants.
A 2005 Center Backgrounder was critical of the program. Specifically, that most Mexican and Canadian arrivals are not checked and the exit checks are extremely sparse. Since that time, the number of checks improved but they believe much more work is needed. The author of the report, former Foreign Service Officer
Jessica Vaughan, said:
in southern Arizona
have encroached on wildlife
areas as well as left trash and other pollution
behind.
is based on illegal and legal immigration's impact on the future increase of the nation's population. Future immigrants and their descendants will increase the U.S. population by approximately 100 million people over the next fifty years, if current immigration policies are held in place. Due to this increase, so will the overall consumption that adds to the CO2
, ecological
, and environmental footprints regardless of per capita decreases in consumption.
has released reports claiming to connect the Center to John Tanton
, who also founded various other immigration reduction
organizations, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform
and NumbersUSA
. These reports were comprised by research of personal letters and public statements from Tanton and also allege Tanton's ties to white supremacy
and the eugenics
movement.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
's report reads:
In response to this, Mark Krikorian wrote in to The National Review :
John Tanton has also reacted to the accusations. As they pertain to the Center, on his website he denies any "role in [its] growth or development." In February 2009, Tanton also challenged the SPLC organization to a public debate at the National Press Club.
In March 2010, CIS published a report written by Jerry Kammer, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, and senior research fellow at CIS, that was sharply critical of the SPLC, its tactics and methodologies, and its attacks against groups such as CIS, NumbersUSA, and FAIR. "Rather than engage in a debate, La Raza
and its allies have waged a campaign to have the other side shunned by the press, civil society, and elected officials. It is an effort to destroy the reputations of its targets. It also seeks to intimidate and coerce others into silence. It undermines basic principles of civil society and democratic discussion." A corresponding panel discussion at the National Press Club was moderated by Krikorian and included Kammer, Krikorian, Harper's editor Ken Silverstein
, and Vanderbilt University
Professor Carol M. Swain.
, that the two groups have overlapping board members, and that Krikorian has admitted that CIS is a FAIR spin-off after first denying it. It quotes U.S. Congressman Chris Cannon
as saying, "Tanton set up groups like CIS and FAIR to take an analytical approach to immigration from a Republican point of view so that they can give cover to Republicans who oppose immigration for other reasons."
Krikorian has denied many of the allegations by article and Cannon. In a rebuttal to the allegations, Krikorian said that Cannon was the "White House point-man on immigration" who:
Although former Rep. Cannon has a negative view of the Center, other elected officials would disagree with him. These officials include U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith
(R-TX), former Governor Richard D. Lamm (D-CO), U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions
(R-AL), and former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson
(R-WY). Despite the aforementioned WSJ article, the newspaper still cites information from the Center. According to its own figures, the Center is second only to the Pew Hispanic Center in articles regarding immigration.
issued a report in 2009 which criticized CIS, along with FAIR and NumbersUSA, for allegedly portraying "immigrants as responsible for numerous societal ills, often using stereotypes and outright bigotry". The report argued that the groups are tied to extremists in the anti-immigrant movement (citing the SLPC report for this claim) even though they are quoted in the press and meet with lawmakers. It complains of what it calls the "legitimization and mainstreaming of virulently anti-immigrant rhetoric". It blamed the rhetoric for feeding a 40% increase in hate crimes against immigrants from 2003–2007, a period when most other hate crimes decreased. CIS Director Krikorian called the report "another salvo against free speech by the pro-amnesty coalition . . . to delegitimize any critic of mass immigration."
Mark Krikorian
Mark Krikorian is an Armenian-American anti-immigration activist. He is the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think-tank in Washington, D.C. that promotes stricter immigration control and enforcement...
. As a 501(c)(3) organization, it is subject to limits or absolute prohibitions on engaging in political activities. The organization describes itself as non-partisan. Media sources describe it as a "non-partisan" or a "conservative" organization.
Its mission statement states:
The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization. Since our founding in 1985, we have pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.
Board and funding
The Center's founding Board Members were:- Vernon Briggs, Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
- Liz Paddock
- Leon Bouvier, Demographer
- Malcolm Lovell
- Frank Morris, formerly of Morgan State UniversityMorgan State UniversityMorgan State University, formerly Centenary Biblical Institute , Morgan College and Morgan State College , is a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Morgan is Maryland's designated public urban university and the largest HBCU in the state of Maryland...
and former Executive Director of Congressional Black Caucus Foundation - Roger Conner
- George Grayson, The College of William and Mary
- Otis Graham, University of North CarolinaUniversity of North CarolinaChartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
Several of the founding members are still on the Board, which is headed by former U.S. Attorney Peter Nunez and also includes T. Willard Fair from the Urban League of Greater Miami.
Contemporary funding comes from several sources. The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Weeden Foundation are major funders. They have also completed contract work for the Census Bureau and the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
. They also receive donations from the Combined Federal Campaign (#10298) as well as donations from individuals.
Publications
The CIS publishes books, backgrounders, op-eds and videos on immigration policy, which are available both online and hard copy. Blogs and Congressional testimony are available as well, however only online. They break down immigration into multiple topics, such as illegal immigration and legal immigration. All of the Center's publications are available free on their website.Congressional testimony
The Center's staff have been called on to give testimony before federal and state legislators dozens of times and on numerous subjects within the realm of immigration. In 2006 and 2007, as the U.S. Congress took up comprehensive immigration reform, they gave Congressional testimony on 27 different occasions.Attrition through enforcement
Mark Krikorian sums up "attrition through enforcement" as:Shrink the illegal population through consistent, across-the-board enforcement of the immigration law. By deterring the settlement of new illegals, by increasing deportations to the extent possible, and, most importantly, by increasing the number of illegals already here who give up and deport themselves, the United States can bring about an annual decrease in the illegal-alien population, rather than allowing it to continually increase. The point, in other words, is not merely to curtail illegal immigration, but rather to bring about a steady reduction in the total number of illegal immigrants who are living in the United States. The result would be a shrinking of the illegal population to a manageable nuisance, rather than today's looming crisis.
The Center took this stance (as opposed to amnesty for illegal aliens or mass deportations) because the two represent, "a false premise: Since the federal government can't quickly deport the 10-12 million illegal aliens, the only alternative is legalization -- i.e., amnesty."
He rejects the plausibility for mass deportations for three main reasons:
- "First, we simply don't have the capacity to find, detain, and deport 10-12 million people in a short period of time."
- "Secondly, even if we had the capacity to magically relocate the millions of illegals, the economic disruption from such an abrupt change would make the transition more painful than it needs to be for those businesses that have become addicted to illegal labor."
- "And finally, political support for a new commitment to enforcement might well be undermined if an exodus of biblical proportions were to be televised in every American living room."
E-Verify
E-VerifyE-Verify
E-Verify is an Internet-based, free program run by the United States government that compares information from an employee's Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 to data from U.S. government records. If the information matches, that employee is eligible to work in the United States...
is currently a voluntary program run by the United States government to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the United States. Formerly known as the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program, the program is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
.
A 2008 Backgrounder by the Center uncovered some key points regarding E-Verify:
- The overall accuracy of the program is 99.5 percent
- 94.2 percent of all employees are authorized within the first 24 hours.
- 93 percent are verified within five seconds.
- In FY 2007 the program found 157,000 unauthorized workers who had previously evaded the I-9 forms.
The author of the study, former 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
staffer Janice Kephart, stated:
E-Verify replaced a paper-based system that employers incessantly moaned about for good reason. Even after Sept. 11, 2001, employers were in a no-win situation with the federal government; they faced an immigration law rightly forbidding the hiring of illegal workers but had to rely on a paper-based system which couldn't verify the identities or documents of new hires.
Then, with the creation of E-Verify in 2004, the main burden for determining work authorization shifted to the government in a meaningful way, modernizing what was known as the Basic Pilot Program.
US-Visit
US-VISIT is a U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
immigration and border management system. The system involves the collection and analysis of biometric data (such as fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s), which are checked against a database to track individuals deemed by the United States to be terrorists, criminals, and illegal immigrants.
A 2005 Center Backgrounder was critical of the program. Specifically, that most Mexican and Canadian arrivals are not checked and the exit checks are extremely sparse. Since that time, the number of checks improved but they believe much more work is needed. The author of the report, former Foreign Service Officer
Foreign Service Officer
A Foreign Service Officer is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. As diplomats, Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic...
Jessica Vaughan, said:
Lack of attention to the overstay problem continues to compromise our efforts to prevent terrorist operations and control illegal immigration. At the moment, in a dangerous international environment, we are admitting about 200 million temporary visitors a year, with virtually no way to keep visitors from staying beyond their authorized visit, and no way even to count the number of visitors who overstay. DHS estimates that at least 30 percent of the approximately 10 million illegal immigrants living in the United States are probably visa overstayers. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that figure is almost certainly understated, probably significantly so.
Population and the environment
The Center takes issue with the micro and macro effects of immigration on the environment.Micro
A web video series, published by the Center, documented the micro issue of illegal immigrant smuggling along the southern border and the environmental damage left behind. The hidden cameras and other footage in the video series showed how various smuggling routes through federal landsFederal lands
Federal lands are lands in the United States for which ownership is claimed by the U.S. federal government.-Primary federal land holders:*Bureau of Land Management*United States Forest Service*United States Fish and Wildlife Service*National Park Service...
in southern Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
have encroached on wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
areas as well as left trash and other pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
behind.
Macro
The premise of the Center's macro issue of immigration's impacts on the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is based on illegal and legal immigration's impact on the future increase of the nation's population. Future immigrants and their descendants will increase the U.S. population by approximately 100 million people over the next fifty years, if current immigration policies are held in place. Due to this increase, so will the overall consumption that adds to the CO2
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
, ecological
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to...
, and environmental footprints regardless of per capita decreases in consumption.
Katz Award
The Center gives annual Katz Award to journalists covering immigration issues. The organization's purpose for the award is, "to promote informed and fair reporting on this contentious and complicated issue." The award is named in memory of Eugene Katz, a native New Yorker who started his career as a reporter for the Daily Oklahoman. In 1928, he joined the family business, working as an advertising salesman for the Katz Agency, and in 1952 became president of Katz Communications, a half-billion-dollar firm which not only dealt in radio and television advertising but also owned and managed a number of radio stations. Katz was a member of the Center for Immigration Studies board until shortly after his 90th birthday in 1997. He died in 2000.Katz Award winners
- 2011: Leo W. Banks, Journalist Tucson WeeklyTucson WeeklyThe Tucson Weekly is an alternative newsweekly that was founded in 1984 by Douglas Biggers and Mark Goehring, and serves the Tucson, Arizona metropolitan area of about 900,000 residents. The paper is a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies...
- 2010: Arnold ShapiroArnold ShapiroArnold Shapiro is an Academy Award and 16-time Emmy Award-winning television producer and writer.His best known work is the 1978 Oscar and Emmy-winning documentary, Scared Straight! His other productions include the CBS reality series, Rescue 911, hosted by William Shatner and the CBS reality...
, Executive Producer of Homeland Security USAHomeland Security USAHomeland Security USA portrays members of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security performing their day-to-day duties. It is the American version of the Australian reality show Border Security.... - 2009: Jaxon Van Derbeken, the San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
- 2008: Heather Mac DonaldHeather Mac DonaldHeather Lynn Mac Donald is an American political commentator and thinker notable for her advocacy of secular conservatism. She has advocated her positions on numerous subjects including crime prevention, immigration reform, academia, the art world, and politics. She is a prolific essayist...
, the City Journal - 2007: Stephen Dinan, the Washington Times
- 2006: Sara CarterSara CarterSara Carter was an American Country music musician. Known for her deep and distinctive singing voice, she was the lead singer on most of the recordings of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930s....
, the Inland Valley Daily BulletinInland Valley Daily BulletinThe Inland Valley Daily Bulletin is a daily newspaper based in Ontario, California and serving the San Bernardino Valley region. The Daily Bulletin is a member of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a division of MediaNews Group.... - 2005: Jerry Seper, the Washington Times
- 2004: Lou DobbsLou DobbsLouis Carl "Lou" Dobbs is an American journalist, radio host, television host on the Fox Business Network, and author. He anchored CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight until November 2009 when he announced on the air that he would leave the 24-hour cable news television network.He was born in Texas and lived...
, Lou Dobbs TonightLou Dobbs TonightLou Dobbs Tonight is an American editorial commentary and discussion program hosted by Lou Dobbs, previously broadcast on CNN and currently on Fox Business Network. The hour-long show aired live on evenings every weekday, and was replayed in the overnight/early morning hours. It covered the major... - 2003: Joel Mowbray, National ReviewNational ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
- 2002: August Gribbin, the Washington Times
- 2000: William Branigin, the Washington Post
- 1999: Jayne Noble Suhler and Ed Timms, the Dallas Morning News
- 1998: Marcus SternMarcus SternMarcus Stern is the Associate Director of the American Repertory Theater as well as the A.R.T./MXAT's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. Stern lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has directed numerous productions for the A.R.T...
, Copley News Service - 1997: Jonathan Tilove, Newhouse News Service
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law CenterSouthern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
has released reports claiming to connect the Center to John Tanton
John Tanton
John H. Tanton, M.D., is a retired ophthalmologist from Petoskey, Michigan, and an influential activist in efforts aimed at reducing immigration levels in the United States. He was organizer and first chairman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform , a non-profit educational group that...
, who also founded various other immigration reduction
Immigration reduction
Immigration reduction refers to a movement in the United States that advocates a reduction in the amount of immigration allowed into the country. Steps advocated for reducing the numbers of immigrants include advocating stronger action to prevent illegal entry and illegal immigration, and...
organizations, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform
Federation for American Immigration Reform
The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a non-profit tax exempt educational organization in the United States that advocates changes in U.S. immigration policy that would result in significant reductions in immigration, both legal and illegal...
and NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA is an immigration reduction organization that seeks to reduce US immigration levels to pre-1965 levels without country of origin quotas as established in the Immigration Act of 1924. It advocates for immigration reduction through user-generated fax, email, and direct mail campaigns...
. These reports were comprised by research of personal letters and public statements from Tanton and also allege Tanton's ties to white supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
and the eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
movement.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
's report reads:
FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA are all part of a network of
restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John
Tanton, the “puppeteer” of the nativist movement and a man
with deep racist roots...CIS was conceived by Tanton and began life as a program of
FAIR. CIS presents itself as a scholarly think tank that produces
serious immigration studies meant to serve “the broad national
interest.” But the reality is that CIS has never found any aspect
of immigration that it liked, and it has frequently manipulated
data to achieve the results it seeks.
In response to this, Mark Krikorian wrote in to The National Review :
[A] report released last week by the Southern Poverty Law Center tarring . . .[the] Center for Immigration Studies—as part of a racist conspiracyConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
, supposedly orchestrated by a retired eye doctor in Michigan named John Tanton. The fact that they went after mainstream groups rather than fringe ones shows that the goal is not elevating the tone of public discourse but shutting it down altogether. . .What’s more, CIS is an unlikely source of “intolerance.” The chairman is Peter Nuñez, U.S. attorney for San Diego under ReaganReagan AdministrationThe United States presidency of Ronald Reagan, also known as the Reagan administration, was a Republican administration headed by Ronald Reagan from January 20, 1981, to January 20, 1989....
; the board includes the president of the Greater Miami Urban League and a former executive director of the National Black Caucus Foundation; the staff includes the former national policy director for the American Jewish CommitteeAmerican Jewish CommitteeThe American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
; and I didn’t even speak English until I got to kindergarten.
John Tanton has also reacted to the accusations. As they pertain to the Center, on his website he denies any "role in [its] growth or development." In February 2009, Tanton also challenged the SPLC organization to a public debate at the National Press Club.
In March 2010, CIS published a report written by Jerry Kammer, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, and senior research fellow at CIS, that was sharply critical of the SPLC, its tactics and methodologies, and its attacks against groups such as CIS, NumbersUSA, and FAIR. "Rather than engage in a debate, La Raza
National Council of La Raza
The National Council of La Raza is a non-profit and non-partisan advocacy group in the United States, focused on improving opportunities for Hispanics. It is sometimes confused with La Raza Unida...
and its allies have waged a campaign to have the other side shunned by the press, civil society, and elected officials. It is an effort to destroy the reputations of its targets. It also seeks to intimidate and coerce others into silence. It undermines basic principles of civil society and democratic discussion." A corresponding panel discussion at the National Press Club was moderated by Krikorian and included Kammer, Krikorian, Harper's editor Ken Silverstein
Ken Silverstein
Ken Silverstein is an American editor covering the Washington bureau for Harper's Magazine. In addition to contributing to the print edition of Harper's Magazine, Silverstein publishes a weblog entitled "Washington Babylon" on the magazine's website...
, and Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
Professor Carol M. Swain.
Wall Street Journal article
CIS is one of several anti-immigration groups mentioned in a 2004 Wall Street Journal "Review&Outlook" article as part of a network of organizations founded by John Tanton that seek to stop immigration to the U.S. The article says that Krikorian was formerly with another Tanton-related organization, Federation for American Immigration ReformFederation for American Immigration Reform
The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a non-profit tax exempt educational organization in the United States that advocates changes in U.S. immigration policy that would result in significant reductions in immigration, both legal and illegal...
, that the two groups have overlapping board members, and that Krikorian has admitted that CIS is a FAIR spin-off after first denying it. It quotes U.S. Congressman Chris Cannon
Chris Cannon
Christopher Black "Chris" Cannon was a member of the United States House of Representatives, for the Republican Party, representing the third district of Utah from 1997 - 2009....
as saying, "Tanton set up groups like CIS and FAIR to take an analytical approach to immigration from a Republican point of view so that they can give cover to Republicans who oppose immigration for other reasons."
Krikorian has denied many of the allegations by article and Cannon. In a rebuttal to the allegations, Krikorian said that Cannon was the "White House point-man on immigration" who:
...picked up the ball with a "Dear Colleague" letter to members of Congress informing them that "It has come to my attention that many of the anti-immigration groups also have an anti-life agenda." This came on the heels of a congressional hearing last Wednesday which Rep. Cannon turned into an inquisition about which immigration restrictionists had lunch with which other immigration restrictionists. This kind of venomous lying and guilt by association are par for the course in the fever swamps of the web, but are startling in the halls of the U.S. Congress and the pages of the nation's largest-circulation newspaper.
Although former Rep. Cannon has a negative view of the Center, other elected officials would disagree with him. These officials include U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith
Lamar S. Smith
Lamar Seeligson Smith is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1987. The district includes most of the wealthier sections of San Antonio and Austin, as well as nearly all of the Texas Hill Country...
(R-TX), former Governor Richard D. Lamm (D-CO), U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions
Jeff Sessions
Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected in 1996, Sessions is a member of the Republican Party...
(R-AL), and former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson
Alan K. Simpson
Alan Kooi Simpson is an American politician who served from 1979 to 1997 as a United States Senator from Wyoming as a member of the Republican Party. His father, Milward L. Simpson, was also a member of the U.S...
(R-WY). Despite the aforementioned WSJ article, the newspaper still cites information from the Center. According to its own figures, the Center is second only to the Pew Hispanic Center in articles regarding immigration.
Other
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education FundLeadership Conference on Civil Rights
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights , formerly called The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is an umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups.-Organizational history:...
issued a report in 2009 which criticized CIS, along with FAIR and NumbersUSA, for allegedly portraying "immigrants as responsible for numerous societal ills, often using stereotypes and outright bigotry". The report argued that the groups are tied to extremists in the anti-immigrant movement (citing the SLPC report for this claim) even though they are quoted in the press and meet with lawmakers. It complains of what it calls the "legitimization and mainstreaming of virulently anti-immigrant rhetoric". It blamed the rhetoric for feeding a 40% increase in hate crimes against immigrants from 2003–2007, a period when most other hate crimes decreased. CIS Director Krikorian called the report "another salvo against free speech by the pro-amnesty coalition . . . to delegitimize any critic of mass immigration."