Utah Congressman Chris Cannon charged that some of the groups that are leading the fight against the legalization of undocumented workers are fronting for hate groups as well as groups with “anti-life” agendas such as free on-demand abortion, sterilization of low-income people, and euthanasia of the elderly. 

Cannon is one of the sponsors of a bill to give farm workers who are in the country illegally an opportunity to become permanent legal residents.  Last week he spurred the debate with accusations at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing. 

After all other members of the panel had left to vote on the floor, Cannon questioned anti-immigration witnesses for 40 minutes.  The interrogation ended when the subcommittee chairman came back to the room and ordered Cannon to end the questioning.

Cannon questioned organizations, such as the Center for Immigration Studies, NumbersUSA, and the Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America about their ties to John Tanton, former Zero Population Growth president and founder of the Federation of American Immigration Reform.  Representatives acknowledged that their groups were involved with the network of nonprofits founded by Tanton although denying the characterization offered by Cannon.  Also, the groups stated that Tanton did not control them, nor do they share in any of the purported extreme beliefs.

Cannon read off newspaper articles about Tanton, including one from the The Wall Street Journal, which stated that Tanton has received more than $1.5 million from the Pioneer Fund, a white supremacist organization promoting racial purity through eugenics, a theory of selective human breeding espoused by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.  He also stated that Tanton received money from groups that finance research to prove the genetic superiority of the white race and fund abortion promotion.

Members of the targeted groups argued that the lower-income, uneducated U.S. citizens would suffer the most from the plan to legalize large groups of immigrants.  They believe it would drive down wages and allow employers to find even more employees overseas.