Arizona Neo-Nazis Rally for Unconstitutional Immigration Law

The provisions in Arizona's controversial immigration bill SB-1070 have been compared to Germany under Hitler's rule, so it's not surprising that some of its most vociferous supporters are Neo-Nazis and other white supremacists. And yesterday, a group of them gathered in Phoenix to protest an injunction on sections of the law, including the parts that would allow law enforcement to stop and check the papers of anyone they “suspected” of being an illegal immigrant. The group marched through Phoenix streets towards the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Court Building, but were met by counter-protesters and a clutch of riot cops, who eventually used tear gas to break up the crowd.

As Think Progress points out, white supremacists and other racist groups love SB-1070 so much because it was written by one of their own. Lawyer Kris Kobach, who structured the bill, is on retainer at Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has received over $1 million in donations from  the Pioneer Fund, "a foundation established to promote the genes of white colonials." Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's fund for the bill has received money from other white supremacist groups such as the American Third Position. Additionally, the sponsor for the law, Rep. Russell Pearce (R-AZ), once endorsed an openly neo-Nazi candidate for CIty Council. The Anti-Defamation League's Bill Straus noted, “It does seem like the distance between what most of us would consider the extreme fringes of political thought and the mainstream of political thought, it seems like that distance has shrunk.”

SB-1070, deemed unconstitutional by the Justice Department (and racist by a lot of other people) is facing more injunctions and challenges by civil liberties groups, with the expectation that it will eventually hit the Supreme Court.