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As IREHR has repeatedly warned, national Tea Party factions have been driving the anti-immigrant charge since at least 2010, blocking all efforts at humane immigration reform. Now comes news that one of the largest factions, Tea Party Patriots, is planning to launch a major new nativist campaign on October 16.

Laying out the new campaign in hyperbolic nativist rhetoric, Tea Party Patriots promotional web material for the “The Border States of America” contends that,

An unprecedented wave of illegal immigration is washing over America today, threatening the very fabric of our nation. The Obama Administration refuses to enforce our immigration laws, resulting in tens of thousands of people illegally entering the US. Rather than securing our border, President Obama leaves it wide open, and instead of returning illegal immigrants to their home nation, our government is sending them to our hometowns.This isn’t just a crisis for citizens who live in southern border states. Today, we all live in a border state.

The incendiary and inaccurate Tea Party Patriot rhetoric mimics the argument that anti-immigrant establishment groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform and NumbersUSA have made for years–that a flood of “illegal aliens” are pouring over the Mexican border to ravage the American heartland.

The centerpiece of the new Tea Party Patriots campaign is a web video and DVD, “The Border States of America.” The trailer for the video appears to be a slicker version of the type of materials groups like the Minuteman Project were circulating back in 2006-2007 (See below to watch trailer). It should be noted that the executive director and media director of the Minuteman Project also run a different Tea Party faction.

Tea Party Patriots are asking members and “like-minded Americans” to host premiere house parties on October 16 to show the video to “family, friends and neighbors.”

While the Tea Party Patriots anti-immigrant rhetoric had been increasing steadily over the last two years as the group transitioned away from Obamacare, this new campaign marks a significant intensification of the nativist activity for the group. IREHR will continue to watch these developments closely.

Devin Burghart

Author Devin Burghart

is vice president of IREHR. He coordinates our Seattle office, directs our research efforts, and manages our online communications. He has researched, written, and organized on virtually all facets of contemporary white nationalism since 1992, and is internationally recognized for this effort. Devin is frequently quoted as an expert by print, broadcast, and online media outlets. In 2007, he was awarded a Petra Foundation fellowship. more...

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