This current administration is and always has been an administration of white supremacy. For at least the fourth time since last year, a top Trump official has appeared as a headliner at an event hosted by a Southern Poverty Law Center designated anti-immigrant hate group. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), founded by eugenicist John Tanton, billed the Washington, D.C. event with acting Customs and Border Protection commissioner Mark Morgan as “a conversation,” which makes it sound more like a boozy happy hour when the organization’s work has been to attack immigrants of color and help a racist or 2,000 get more page views on their propaganda.
That shit has gotten the tacit approval of numerous Trump officials who’ve decided to sit down with CIS for one of these little conversations, including former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Lee Francis Cissna, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Thomas Homan, and now Morgan. He spent some of his time with CIS staffer Jessica Vaughan in near-hysterics over what he perceived to be the unfair treatment of border agents. While he pleaded with people to remember that agents are moms and dads, he forgot to get as equally passionate for all the kids who have been abused or lost their lives in their custody.
Nor was there any regret during the hour-long talk of the fact that Border Patrol chief Carla Provost was a member for a time of the not-so-secret Facebook group where current and former agents shared racist and sexually violent content. Among the horrific shit these people posted was a meme mocking the death of Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez, a 16-year-old boy who was ignored by agents as he died of the flu in their care this year. Nor were there any discussion of White House aide and noted white supremacist Stephen Miller and his leaked communications, where he enthusiastically linked to CIS’ propaganda in dozens of emails.
Hatewatch’s research revealed that Miller also praised the writings of Jason Richwine, a CIS contributor and idiota who in 2013 was forced to resign from the Heritage Foundation after his Harvard University dissertation arguing that Latinos have lower IQs than whites was exposed. Five years later, Miller’s devotion to the CIS has only grown more intense: “CIS researchers say the White House has invited them into policymaking discussions,” Hatewatch said. Birds of a feather.
Vaughan herself has been a favorite go-to guest of Republican legislators, fearmongering during panels in front of Congress when she hasn’t been busy with CIS’ “conversations” series or being “a featured speaker at multiple extremist events including white nationalist publisher The Social Contract Press’s annual Writer’s Workshop,” SPLC reported last year. A number of CIS staffers have actually been frequent guests of Republicans in front of Congress over the years, but never before have hate groups like CIS enjoyed the kind of access they’re getting now.