FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Erin White 520-204-0678, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Beth Newcomer 717-880-5910, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Anti-immigrant group FAIR launches smear campaign against leading immigrant rights group CASA de Maryland
False accusations based on massive collection of public documents including affidavits of FAIR representatives harassing immigrants at work
Statement from Gustavo Torres, Executive Director, CASA de Maryland:
A conservative group opposed to CASA de Maryland’s service and educational work used factually and legally inaccurate information to assert that we have not fully complied with tax and election regulations. The legal arm of FAIR, an ultraconservative anti-immigration group, has assembled a massive volume of routine documents such as news reports, Wikipedia entries and public newsletters to levy accusations based on volume to make up for lack of substance. Their complaint to the tax authorities against CASA de Maryland, and its sister organization CASA in Action, is simply another tactic in their aggressive campaign against immigrant rights.
The fact is that CASA is legally structured in the same way as most organizations that have both service and advocacy programs. We insist on the highest standards for operations, including compliance with all regulations. We perform annual compliance reviews with outside legal counsel, and every staff member attends mandatory compliance training. For the past five years we have received clean audits from a top accounting firm that provides services to more than eighty non-profit entities.
Make no mistake -- this latest "complaint" by FAIR is yet another political maneuver by extremists who oppose our mission. Politician Kris Kobach is Counsel on the IRLI complaint, the same person who last week shared the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference with a former organizer of a White Supremist Group.
Furthermore, FAIR created IRLI to write and advocate some of the harshest anti-immigration laws in the country. Not only is IRLI writing and advocating harmful legislation based on dangerous ideology, they are actively trying to silence those who advocate for human rights for all immigrants. This latest smear, years in the making, fits the pattern of intimidation and political gamesmanship that has made FAIR infamous among anti-immigrant groups.
Anyone who wades through the more than 1400 pages of the FAIR smear attempt will see that this complaint is more about opposition to our mission of empowering immigrants than to our operations. Among the reams of documents in the appendix is an affidavit from Michael Hethmon, one of the authors of the Arizona anti-immigration laws, who chronicles his own harassment of immigrants, photographing volunteers at political events against their will and demanding their documents. To turn this type of intimidation into allegations toward CASA is political spin at its worst.
The fact is that an organized anti-immigrant effort is underway across the nation, and we'll likely see more of this type of harassment in the coming months from FAIR and its operatives. Our focus will remain on serving the diverse communities in Maryland and advocating for the social, political, and economic justice for all low-income communities.
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