For at least five years, California has shared the points of anti-immigrant groups on a website intended to be a resource exchange for refugees and other immigrants.
The Department of Social Services website has had a link to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) since at least 2017. This comes a year after he was classified as an anti-immigration hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
According to the state’s website, the link on the website reads, “California’s Refugee Program, Eligible Population, and the California Department of Social Services — Refugee Programs Bureau (RPB) — which works with them to provide benefits and services. The purpose is to provide information about the organization.
The CIS consistently publishes reports that feature white supremacists and anti-Semites in its weekly newsletter and “exaggerate the criminality of immigrants,” says Caleb, senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Kiefer said.
“They are one of the leading anti-immigrant think tanks in the country right now,” Kiefer added.
One of the links took people to a CIS website containing articles such as: “Why Alternative Programs Doesn’t Eliminate the Need for Migrant Detention;” and “Sanctuary Cities.”
Another CIS link directed visitors to a fact sheet on Haitian immigration to the US.
CIS was founded in 1985 by John Tanton. , according to the Law Center website.
Most recently, the CIS worked with former President Donald Trump’s aide, Stephen Miller, who promoted many of the administration’s anti-immigration policies.
The social service removed the link from its website on Monday, minutes after an inquiry from KPBS News.
“These links are outdated and misposted,” Scott Murray, deputy director of public relations and outreach programs, wrote in an email. Murray did not respond to multiple follow-up questions, including when the link was first posted and how it ended up on the state’s website.
The Internet Archive website displays CIS links for social service websites dating back to 2017. It’s unclear when they were first posted.
According to Kiefer, the CIS has established itself as an impartial think tank by publishing newsletters and fact sheets, so it is understandable that social services may have mistakenly included the CIS in their list of resources. doing.
“I appreciate your taking them down immediately and recognizing the harmful nature of these links,” he said. I recognize that.”
Still, Kiefer said he was “concerned” that they were shared in the first place.
“When we provide a platform for groups like the CIS, we further mainstream this anti-immigrant, xenophobic and xenophobic rhetoric,” he said.
