Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Attacks Tanton Anti-Immigrant Network’s ‘Shocking Extremism’

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is spearheading a campaign to build support for immigration reform among mainstream conservatives by pointing out what his advocacy group calls the “shocking extremism” of the anti-immigrant movement.

In a 30-page memo sent to every member of Congress, Zuckerberg’s group, FWD.us, specifically attacks a trio of groups created by the racist architect of the modern nativist movement, John Tanton, a Michigan-based ophthalmologist who argued that the preservation of American culture requires “a European-American majority.”

Tanton’s groups – the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies, and NumbersUSA – have played a central role in scuttling immigration reform efforts and are often cited by opponents of reform. FAIR has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has unearthed documents showing that Tanton has spent decades at the heart of the white nationalist movement.

Bob Dane, FAIR’s communications director, has responded by attacking Zuckerberg. “Mark Zuckerberg has no meaningful experience in immigration policies and has resorted to simply cutting and pasting old and false allegations,” Dane wrote in an e-mail to MSNBC. “Mr. Zuckerberg may be the original Facebook friend; he is no friend of the American Worker.”