Shawna Forde Linked to FAIR in 2006 Video

by Dave Bennion · 2009-06-15 07:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Immigration restrictionist John Tanton founded the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in 1979.  Since then, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, FAIR has had documented ties to white supremacy groups and accepted money from the eugenicist Pioneer Fund.  FAIR representatives are nonetheless routinely quoted by mainstream newspapers on immigration stories and welcomed onto cable news shows.

Now a video has come to light raising questions about FAIR’s connection to Shawna Forde, the leader of a Minutemen fringe group recently charged with the murder of two people in a home invasion in Arizona.

Forde is introduced in this PBS debate from 2006 on immigration reform as a representative of FAIR, and is identified as such throughout the debate.

This is not a connection I’ve seen elsewhere, and it isn’t clear whether Forde was acting in a temporary role, whether her association with FAIR was more substantial, or whether FAIR was even aware of her claim to represent the group.

But these questions are fairly posed, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who would like to hear the answers.

Update: Hopefully this video embeds better than the last.  America's Voice and ThinkProgress have picked up this story.

Second Update: FAIR has now denied any association with Forde.  More here.

(Hat tip: Tony Herrera)

Dave Bennion
PREVIOUS STORY:
Marriage Without Papers Ok, Says CLINIC
NEXT STORY:
UCSF Doctors, Grads, and Patients Speak Out for Immigrant Denied Kidney Transplant

COMMENTS (9)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.