Anti-Immigrant Groups Demonize Hispanics

As the national debate

over immigration reached a fever pitch, some mainstream advocacy groups

"reached for the playbook of hate groups" -- resorting to hateful and

dehumanizing stereotypes and outright bigotry to demonize immigrants.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which monitors extremist groups and

their rhetoric with regard to the immigration debate, has exposed a new

development where some of the more mainstream anti-immigrant groups

increasingly are adopting the tactics and rhetoric of racist groups and

moving it into the mainstream.

"Under the guise of warning about the impact of illegal immigration in

the rush to thwart the immigration bill from becoming law, some

anti-immigrant groups reached for the playbook of hate groups," said

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "They have taken hateful and

racist rhetoric and brought it into the mainstream."