Open Border Groups Want to Censor the Rest of Us

by Roy Beck - NumbersUSA

posted 03/05/08

The Open-Borders groups are trying to keep NumbersUSA.com & its allies off cable TV shows.

"If you can't beat them, shut them up" seems to be the new motto of groups that have been continually losing in their attempts to pass an amnesty for illegal aliens. (Below is an Associated Press story about this national censorship campaign.)

Led by the National Council of La Raza and the Anti-Defamation League, the open-borders groups have started a concerted campaign to persuade Cable TV executives to either bar Roy Beck, the President of Number USA and their Director of Government Relations, Rosemary Jenks, from their shows, or to always introduce us as representing an "extremist" organization with ties to hate and racist groups.

Their characterization of NumbersUSA and their members is without any connection to reality, facts or even common decency. But if all anti-illegal immigration proponents remain silent in the face of this campaign of character assassination, NumbersUSA might indeed be silenced on TV and beyond.

So broad is the attempt at censorship that the open-borders groups suggest that virtually no spokesman or group fighting illegal immigration or asking for less overall immigration should be allowed on TV. They want Lou Dobbs off CNN, Pat Buchanan off MSNBC, and Sean Hannity off Fox.

LA RAZA SUGGESTS THAT NO PRO-ENFORCEMENT GROUP HAS A LEGITIMATE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH

The total censorship advocacy of La Raza and its friends can be seen in the fact that their website lists NumbersUSA as "the most reasoned" of all groups on the restriction side of the immigration issue ... but then it says even NumbersUSA should not be allowed on TV, or quoted by the Washington Post. In other words, no group that stands for enforcing immigration laws should be allowed on TV, because all of them are less reasonable than NumbersUSA, which La Raza describes as being an "extremist group targeting Latinos." These comments from La Raza are so desperate and disconnected from reality that when they began last month Roy Beck dismissed them and chose not to bring them to the public's attention.

Those of you who have used NumbersUSA's activist tools for the past 11 years of the organization's existence know that, for instance, they have NEVER talked about the ethnicity or race of immigrants and illegal aliens. NumbersUSA has ALWAYS called for immigration policies that do NOT take race into consideration and that do NOT favor one ethnicity over another.

The people also know that beginning with Roy Beck's 1996 video, "Immigration by the Numbers," and with the founding of their website in 1997, NumbersUSA has always admonished Americans to refrain from getting angry at immigrants. NumbersUSA has warned against "immigrant bashing." They have always rallied citizens to express their anger against the public officials who have created the immigration nightmare. Frankly, the Anti-Defamation League is itself engaging in incredibly reckless defamation of NumbersUSA and many other immigration-reduction groups and leaders.

What we have here is several groups that favor very high immigration -- such as La Raza, ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Center -- organizations that seek to advance their cause by throwing the most incendiary type of labels at their opponents. And they really believe they can get away with it. They have already scheduled meetings with TV executives to make their case for keeping off the air all immigration-restriction groups, and especially the two largest national groups, NumbersUSA and FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform).

'WE CAN STOP THE DEBATE' WEBSITE LAYS OUT THE CASE FOR CENSORSHIP

Roy Beck points out that the majority of text on the La Raza website about the various anti-illegal immigration groups, including NumbersUSA and about Roy Beck is simply not factual. The website is called www.WeCanStopTheHate.org . But it might as well be called "We Can Stop The Debate."

According to the ADL's Stacy Burnett on the website, anybody who uses words like conquest, invasion, swarms, hordes, crime and disease in connection with illegal immigration -- or who even suggests that immigration is an economic threat to a community -- is guilty of hate speech. La Raza says such talk is "used to justify extreme action, sometimes even genocide, since the people using those labels claim that the 'larger public interest' is at risk."

The website also says that more than 40 million Americans are members of hate, racist and extremist groups that apparently are fanning the passions of genocide toward immigrants. Wow! And I thought Americans were just trying to reduce the numerical level of immigration and to enforce immigration laws that have been on the books for decades. Don't you find that 40 million figure a little hard to believe? What groups can they possibly be counting? This stuff sounds so nuts that you can see why I dismissed it at first, but the website is rallying its own supporters to a relentless campaign to pressure TV executives to erase nearly all opposition to amnesties from TV.

PLEASE CONTACT TV EXECUTIVES AND CALL FOR CONTINUED OPEN IMMIGRATION FORUM -- INCLUDING OUR OPPONENTS

Roy Beck, of NumbersUSA, is asking as many of you as have time to send an email to CNN, Fox and MSNBC executives to urge them to continue to keep their shows open to all sides of the immigration debate. Unlike the open-borders, pro-amnesty groups, our side of the debate does not want to silence our opponents. We believe in freedom of the press, freedom of speech and in allowing American citizens to hear all points of view. Yes, we find the views of many of the open-borders leaders repugnant, but we would never suggest that they should be excluded from news stories and from talk shows.

Because these TV executives have not shown any sign of giving in to the censorship campaign, Roy Beck doesn't want you to burn up their fax machines with faxes at this moment. So, he is asking you to send your own email to the executives, based on what you have read in this alert and what you read on WeCanStopTheHate.org and on their www.NumbersUSA.com website.

CNN

Jim Walton President CNN Worldwide Atlanta, GA

Email: jim.walton@turner.com

Jonathan Klein President CNN U.S. New York, NY

Email: Jon.Klein@turner.com

Viewer Response Line/Comments Call 212-275-7800 ask for Viewer Response Line

FOX NEWS

Roger Ailes Chairman and CEO New York, NY

Email roger.ailes@foxnews.com

Bill Shine Senior Vice President Programming New York, NY

Email bill.shine@foxnews.com

Brian Lewis Executive Vice President Corporate Communications New York, NY Email brian.lewis@foxnews.com

Public Feedback Yourcomments@foxnews.com

MSNBC

Phil Griffin Senior Vice President of News New York, NY

Email phil.griffin@nbc.com

Please remember that these executives are not our enemies. Although we may not always agree with their balance in covering immigration, these three cables have been far more open than broadcast TV and the nation's newspapers to allowing the majority of Americans' concerns about immigration to be expressed.

The La Raza Censorship Campaign is telling these executives that if they allow leaders from FAIR, the Minutemen, ALIPAC, or if they allow Roy beck and/or Rosemary Janks, of NumbersUSA to continue to express their views on TV, the executives will be inculcating "good people" to hate all immigrants. The La Raza website says it goes beyond the bounds of free speech to say that our nation's immigration policies threaten our communities and our values. Roy beck says that statement itself threatens the values of our nation. Let these executives know that you know about the effort at censorship and that you back them 100% in keeping the immigration forum open to all sides -- including the open-borders people who want to censor us.

Roy Beck said "Also, I think you can regard this outrageous censorship campaign as a sign of great strength and victory for all of you mobilized citizens. The open-borders lobby is extremely frustrated and believes the only way it can compete in the political world is to silence all opponents. This is a great time to help media executives realize just how strong is the citizens movement for Attrition Through Enforcement and to reduce all immigration back to traditional levels."