White Nationalist Conference To Host Immigration News Aggregator With Ties to Mainstream Conservatives

Border Hawk News is a news and article aggregator platform with connections to the organized anti-immigrant network founded by the late John Tanton, a white nationalist and eugenicist who is credited as being the architect of the modern-day anti-immigrant movement. Border Hawk News has been getting airtime from such conservative news outlets as One America News (OAN). Its footage was also used in a segment on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News program in November 2023. Border Hawk staff have appeared on OAN two times in the last two months.

Border Hawk News operates a website aggregating immigration news and commentary, publishing original content on issues like migration in Europe, and doing live segments at the U.S.-Mexico border. They have been able to earn spots on mainstream news programs as well as other conservative-leaning web shows, such as Sebastian Gorka’s “America First.”

But a Hatewatch review of Border Hawk News’ output and activities shows it embodies a xenophobic agenda consistent with its founding as part of Tanton’s anti-immigrant network.

Border Hawk News staff also openly affiliate with VDARE, one of the most prolific white nationalist hate groups in the country, including sharing a writer who has been a decades-long contributor to VDARE’s website.

Border Hawk News appears to subscribe to the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory and ideas of there being a migrant “invasion” happening at the U.S. southern border. This is the same sort of content that appears on VDARE.com. In a Dec. 13. 2023, post titled “We Need Your Help – To Stop The Invasion!” Border Hawk News staff wrote, “The Great Replacement is real!” The same content is pinned to the top of the group’s X page. The “great replacement” is a racist conspiracy theory that claims white people in white-majority nations are being replaced by non-white immigrants and people of color, who are often framed as being inferior to the dominant population and culture. Mass murders responsible for racialized and antisemitic attacks in Buffalo, New York; El Paso, Texas; Christchurch, New Zealand; Pittsburgh, and others, have cited the "great replacement" as their inspiration for the violence.

Ethan Fauré, a senior research analyst with social justice group Political Research Associates who specializes in studying movements promoting anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and white nationalist ideologies, told Hatewatch via email that Border Hawk’s seeming embrace of such conspiracy theory is “troubling, but unsurprising,” noting they are “part of a broader right-wing media ecosystem” that has wholly embraced this type of conspiratorial rhetoric.

Dan Lyman, Border Hawk News’ president and editor-in-chief, regularly associates with VDARE. Lyman did an almost-45-minute web interview with VDARE’s founder Peter Brimelow on March 19 about his work at Border Hawk, including a recent trip he had taken to the U.S.-Mexico border.

During the show, Brimelow asked Lyman why the Biden administration is supposedly not helping protect southern border states from the migrant “invasion.”

Lyman responded that it’s “deeper and darker than just Democrat votes,” alluding to the conspiracy theory that Democrats want to import a new voting bloc of immigrants, a tenet of “great replacement” ideas. “I think that it is the destruction of the country, the destruction of white Americans, who will be basically subsumed by the Third World. They’re very happy for that, to do that and execute that. And that’s pretty much built into the platform of the Democrat party at this point.”

During the show, Brimelow advertised that Lyman would be a featured speaker at VDARE’s conference scheduled for April 26-27 at its castle in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. He is slated to appear alongside other longtime VDARE contributors including John Derbyshire and Steve Sailer.

Hatewatch reached out to Border Hawk News for comment via email but did not receive a response.

This is not the first time Lyman has spoken at the VDARE castle. He was a featured speaker at the group’s summer conference in June 2023. Like his conversation with Brimelow, Lyman’s remarks were filled with “great replacement”-style anxieties about changing demographics in the U.S. and Europe.

“We are here because we believe Western civilization is in the midst of an existential crisis,” he told the crowd. “Rampant mass migration from the Third World poses an imminent threat to our nation.”

VDARE’s April conference takes place amid a protracted legal battle with the New York attorney general (AG)’s office, which alleges that VDARE “violated New York law” when the group purchased its castle in Berkeley Springs in 2020. As of late March, VDARE was still engaged in litigation over a subpoena to turn over documents related to the AG’s investigation. Brimelow wrote in a March 29 blog post on VDARE.com that the AG’s office “crucifies VDARE.com” and said that legal proceedings have cost the group up to $1 million. An April 14 VDARE post advertised that the conference might be the group’s last.

Border Hawk News published a piece in support of VDARE on April 6. The piece was written by Allan Wall, who serves as a Border Hawk writer and secretary, per 990 tax documents.

Wall is a longtime contributor to VDARE.com. Since 2001, he has penned 1,702 articles for the white nationalist website, according to a review by Hatewatch. Wall writes on various immigration issues, including “great replacement” ideas of his own. In a December 2022 article, Wall commented on a Breitbart article predicting that in 2023 there will be two immigrants per each native birth, saying, “That’s the Great Replacement.”

Wall wrote in the Border Hawk piece: “At VDARE’s darkest and possibly fatal hour, its influence has grown amazingly. Many of the issues VDARE has been discussing over the years are finally making it into the mainstream discourse.”

Once largely relegated to the fringes of society, great replacement conspiracy theories and ideas of invasion are now being dragged into the mainstream with the help of powerful and influential actors in right-wing media and politics.

“Border Hawk of course supports VDARE,” he adds.

When asked about the connections between Border Hawk and VDARE, Fauré noted: “VDARE has operated on the periphery of right-wing media for decades to help popularize many of the conspiracies and rhetoric so present on the Right today. As more so-called fringe media outlets gain salience in the broader landscape, it is expected for longtime entities like VDARE to figure into it.”

Border Hawk News appears to count VDARE as a legitimate news source. The website and its affiliated social media regularly share content from the white nationalist group in its news aggregation. Intermingling VDARE content is common for groups in the anti-immigrant network. Hatewatch found in 2017 that the anti-immigrant hate group Center for Immigration Studies – another organization with ties to Tanton – circulated over 1,700 VDARE.com articles in its weekly immigration news roundups over a 10-year period.

Other extremist connections

Brimelow is not the only white nationalist figure Lyman has affiliated with. In September 2023, Lyman appeared on an episode of VDARE’s book club alongside two prominent white nationalists: James Kirkpatrick aka Kevin DeAnna, and Paul Kersey aka Michael J. Thompson.

DeAnna is one of the ideological architects of the white nationalist movement, writing thousands of articles under the pseudonyms James Kirkpatrick and Gregory Hood. DeAnna, Thompson and Lyman discussed conservative activist Christopher Rufo’s book America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything. Lyman introduced himself on the show by saying his focus is on “immigration, cultural issues, demographic issues, and the intersection of all those with crime and the crime wave that has been racking Europe for years.” He said this commentary was present in Rufo’s book.

“What we're seeing here is of course, the rise of crime in the United States,” Lyman said. “That is totally tied in with CRT (Critical Race Theory), with anti-white narrative that is being pushed into schools that is being pushed against, you know, the police departments and law enforcement and all the way up through, you know, the demonization of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.”

Lyman also works with Infowars, the antigovernment conspiracy theory website and organization run by Alex Jones. Lyman also heads Infowars Europe. He regularly contributes immigration-related content to Jones’ website, which has been one of the leading antigovernment conspiracy theory websites for decades. Infowars also cross-posts Border Hawk News articles.

During an Oct. 8, 2023, appearance on the podcast “Macroaggressions,” Lyman discussed some of his work with Infowars Europe. The discussion went to him saying migrants are being intentionally moved to small towns in Western Europe to change the demographics. When asked by the host if this is the replacement theory playing out, Lyman said, “Oh 100%. I mean, this is the great replacement unfolding in front of our eyes.”

He continued to say this is being orchestrated by Hungarian philanthropist and financier George Soros, who has become the far-right’s favorite boogeyman.

U.S. Inc. and beyond

Border Hawk News began as a project of U.S. Inc., an organization Tanton founded in 1981. U.S. Inc. served as an umbrella organization to fund various xenophobic projects affiliated with the anti-immigrant network, including ProEnglish, The Social Contract Press, NumbersUSA, Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, and Oregonians for Immigration Reform, among others. Tanton’s wife, Mary Lou, served as vice-chairman of U.S. Inc.’s board of directors.

Tanton worked to establish a network of groups to dramatically lower immigration and refugee numbers, push for anti-immigrant policies, and derail meaningful immigration reforms. He set out to create a veneer of respectability behind his anti-immigrant crusade, but a cache of his personal memos lodged at Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library revealed his goals of maintaining a white majority in the U.S. In a 1986 memo, Tanton wrote, “As Whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?” Fauré reiterated this to Hatewatch, saying, “Tanton and the organizations he fostered were vital to bringing this dangerous rhetoric to the forefront of the Right’s immigration politics.”

Tanton died in 2019, but his legacy endures via the network of groups he helped launch. Though now its own independent group, Border Hawk was once closely tied to Tanton.

In 2020, Border Hawk News launched under U.S. Inc., being listed as a new project on its website. Lyman mentioned his connections to U.S. Inc. while speaking at VDARE’s 2023 conference.

“So, in 2020, as Peter [Brimelow] mentioned, we launched BorderHawk.news as a project of U.S. Inc.,” he said. “Many of you will probably be familiar with U.S. Inc. and with its founder John Tanton.”

Brimelow had a close relationship with Tanton and corresponded with him over the years, as revealed by Tanton’s memos. This included encouraging Brimelow to write his book Alien Nation and providing funds to write and promote it.

The U.S. Inc. website boasted it “serves as an incubator and umbrella for start-up projects that later spin off to become fully independent organizations or achieve their purpose and close up.” This turned out to be the case for Border Hawk News.

Border Hawk News was housed under U.S. Inc. until 2022, when the organization ceased operations. U.S. Inc.’s website shut down in late June 2022. According to Michigan business records, U.S. Inc. changed its name to ProEnglish, an SPLC-designated anti-immigrant hate group that has been a longtime project housed under the organization. Other projects housed under U.S. Inc. such as The Social Contract Press, which published the anti-immigrant journal The Social Contract and re-published such racist literature as The Camp of the Saints, folded. This all appeared to correlate with Tanton’s passing in 2019.

Tax documents available on the IRS website show Border Hawk News was incorporated as its own tax-exempt organization on April 14, 2022, under the care of Dan Lyman’s mother, Isabel “Izzy” Faith Lyman, a former city councilor for Petoskey, Michigan, and Emmett County, Michigan, commissioner. Petoskey is the same city where Tanton lived and U.S. Inc. was based. Border Hawk’s 2022 tax filings still list its address in Petoskey. Izzy also has ties to Tanton’s groups. Izzy moderated The Social Contract’s 2019 annual writer’s workshop where she was introduced as U.S. Inc.’s executive director. She is also listed as U.S. Inc.’s principal officer on its 990 tax documents from 2019 to 2021.

Izzy edited three publications associated with The Social Contact Press, according to The Petoskey News-Review. This included the third edition of a collection of essays titled Common Sense on Mass Immigration. Tanton had edited previous editions of the essays.

Izzy has also contributed to VDARE and appeared in the pages of the white nationalist site. In 2003, Izzy interviewed Brimelow on her blog The Homeschool Revolution about his book The Worm and the Apple, which is critical of teachers’ unions.

Izzy promotes Border Hawk News on her X page. Border Hawk appears to be a family affair. Izzy’s other son Willard “Wid” Lyman serves as a field reporter and is listed as treasurer on the group’s 990 tax form. Izzy has done interviews alongside Wid where they’ve discussed Border Hawk’s work.

Border Hawk News’ X account is also followed by members and organizations affiliated with the anti-immigrant network. Mark Krikorian and Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies both follow Border Hawk, as does U.S. Tech Workers and the anti-immigrant group ALIPAC.

Fauré said the “proliferation of great replacement and other conspiracy narratives” now spans so much of media and even shows up within Congress, which “speaks to the success the right has had in shifting general understanding of immigration and border issues”

Fauré continued, “Border Hawk didn’t create this landscape, but it opportunistically contributes to that narrative climate in support of a draconian enforcement regime and broader white nationalist agenda.”

Photo illustration by SPLC