The Map: Anti-Immigration In Colorado

For the past week Colorado Confidential has been reporting on the anti-illegal immigration movement in Colorado and its connections with various in-state and out-of-state figures-some of whom carry obvious racist undertones in their past.

Below is a simple map detailing the connections between those individuals and organizations covered.

  • John Tanton
    Tanton’s business, U.S. Inc, gave $48,000 to Defend Colorado Now – one of the primary organizations campaigning for restrictions on illegal immigration – which makes up roughly 30% of the groups funding. Tanton is know as one of the grandfathers of the anti-immigration movement and has founded various groups in that regard, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and Californians for Population Stabilization. Both organizations have connections to Dick Lamm (see below).

    Tanton is also publisher of the Social Contract Press (SCP), the editor of which is Wayne Lutton, who is directly connected with white nationalist groups. A number of white nationalists have also written for the SCP.

  • Tom Tancredo
    Tancredo has received $3,000 from John Tanton, and $1,319 dollars from Fred Elbel.

  • Dick Lamm
    Former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm was working with Defend Colorado Now (DCN) to push for a state ballot initiative that would bar “non-emergency” services from going to illegal immigrants. He also has numerous connections with Tanton, including having a paper appear in the Social Contract Press. Lamm also took money from U.S. Inc while working with DCN, and has served on boards for organizations founded by Tanton.

    When Lamm was on the board of directors of FAIR (1982 to 1994), the organization took over a million dollars from a white eugenics group known as the Pioneer Fund. In 2002, when he was on the advisory board for Californians for Population Stabilization, the organization received a $5,000 grant from the Pioneer Fund.

  • Fred Elbel
    Elbel is the registered agent for Defend Colorado Now and was working with Dick Lamm to put an initiative on the ballot restricting state services to illegal immigrants.  He has also given money to Tom Tancredo and is the spokesperson for the Colorado Alliance for Immigration reform.

    Elbel’s words have also appeared in the Social Contract Press and he has gotten flack for an e-mail in which he used racist language. His alleged connections to racists include working with Brenda Walker and Virginia Abernethy, the latter of whom has been connected to two white supremacist organizations.

  • The Pioneer Fund
    The Pioneer Fund is a non-profit organization that has been accused of funding bogus studies identifying superiorities between certain races. It has given money to Tanton’s FAIR-while Lamm was on the board-and gave grant money to Californians for Population Stabilization, also founded by Tanton.

  • Defend Colorado Now
    DCN failed to get an immigration initiative on the 2006 ballot because the Colorado Supreme Court found the rhetoric violated certain constitutional provisions. Elbel and Lamm are part of the organization, while Tanton’s U.S. Inc. contributed money. Both members of DCN have written for Social Contract Press and are involved with other immigration groups. 

For More Info:

Tancredo’s Racist Donors

Dick Lamm, The Pioneer Fund, and Defend Colorado Now

Another Tancredo Donor Linked To White Power

Tancredo Donor Linked to White Power Group

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.

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