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Hassan Ahmad Profile picture
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15 Jul, 5 tweets, 3 min read
OK. This is a problem. As I said in 2019, "basic standards of journalistic integrity are that these organizations be properly contextualized as the white nationalist organizations that they are.”

These are the groups that enabled ppl like Stephen Miller.

yahoo.com/entertainment/…
.@DefineAmerican did a similar study covering 2014-2018 and found the same troubling trend: white nationalist organizations being given cover as a legitimate "other side" of the immigration debate.

WHITE NATIONALISTS ARE NOT LEGITIMATE. That's all.

defineamerican.com/journalismRepo…
Time and time again, colleagues of mine and advocates I stand with have pleaded with journalists to see these groups for what they are.

I sued @UMich to unseal the papers of their founder, Dr. John Tanton, to tell that part of the story.

motherjones.com/politics/2021/…
You want to know why immigration reform keeps failing?

It's because of the #TantonNetwork. Seriously. Search that term and you'll see what I mean. But in the meantime, here's a wire map of all the different players in this #DarkMoney-funded network:

plotagainstimmigrants.com/network/
We can't build the humane, welcoming system of immigration if we allow white nationalists a seat at the table.

They're behind every draconian piece of legislation and policy for over 40 years.

Maybe we should at least learn about the flamethrower as we put out all the fires?

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Hassan Ahmad Profile picture
10 Jul
*knock knock* hey @StephenM you listening? I'm the guy unsealing the #TantonPapers, the blueprint for the organizations that told you how to build your deportation machine.

I've been at this for over 4 years. Just wanted to share a little update!
Some quick background: John Tanton was the mastermind behind the largest and most effective anti-immigrant organizations in the US. Tied inextricably to the white nationalist movements, they've infiltrated deep into all levels of government and policy.

motherjones.com/politics/2021/…
After 4 years, thanks to @isabelaalhadeff I finally got to see the "gift agreement" Tanton struck with UM. And it likely doesn't reach the level of an enforceable contract. Nothing more than a string of receipts. But here's the kicker:
Read 10 tweets
Hassan Ahmad Profile picture
11 May
#TantonPapers case update:

After 4 years, I'm finally taking @UMich to trial.

Yesterday we propounded initial discovery. Item #1:
"PRODUCE: The Donor/Gift Agreement between Dr. Tanton and The University of Michigan/Bentley Historical Library."
Besides the papers themselves, this secret gift agreement is the most important piece of this puzzle. Why did Tanton want to keep his papers secret through 2035? How did they agree to only keep half of them closed, and why? Were there any other parties involved in the decision?
I had tried to request this secret agreement through FOIA in 2017, but UM denied it, saying we were parties to litigation. OK, fair enough. One of my colleagues tried to ask for it, and they denied her too, saying she was my agent and therefore a party to the litigation as well!
Read 4 tweets
Hassan Ahmad Profile picture
27 Apr
It's good to see the @JoeBiden administration taking the threat of white supremacist-fueled extremism seriously.

But how to define it? Where is the line between extremism and free speech?

nytimes.com/live/2021/04/2…
Terrorism and extremism are not the same. It would be shortsighted to focus only on one while ignoring the role the other plays on it.

9/11 vastly expanded the categories and scope of terrorism and extremism, and we saw it reflected in not only law & policy, but discourse.
Surveillance, prolonged civil detention, and deportation were but a few of the reactions. In a recent call with our Virginia Senator, we called for a 20-year post mortem of the Patriot Act.

What lessons from post-9/11 will we use to address domestic extremism? Are we safer?
Read 17 tweets
Hassan Ahmad Profile picture
23 Apr
What if I told you we could have a path to citizenship for COVID-19 essential workers without having to convince 10 Republicans in the Senate? It's possible: through budget reconciliation.

Yesterday our @GovernorVA Northam became the first Governor to tell @JoeBiden to do it.
If a pathway to citizenship for essential workers is passed as part of the 2nd reconciliation economic package, then we only need a simple majority in the Senate, and *checks* yep, we have it.

We can make this happen! The power Dems have gained means nothing if we squander it.
VA is the *only* state in the country whose senators both sit on the Senate Budget Committee. We've been calling on Sen @timkaine and Sen @MarkWarner to be bold and push a pathway to citizenship for essential workers.
Read 9 tweets
Hassan Ahmad Profile picture
21 Apr
Earlier today, before news about the verdict dropped, I read this piece about an amazing archeological find: the childhood cabin of Harriet Tubman. I thought about the Underground Railroad, how Tubman was by all accounts a hated lawbreaker in her day.
washingtonpost.com/history/2021/0…
Tubman never waivered in her commitment to standing up against the evil of human slavery.

She had little, but she knew how to read the wilderness, how to read the sky, the wind, the sun and the stars.
She used what was given to her to speak truth to power, fighting white supremacy without writing a single op-ed, filing a case, or firing off a tweet.

One hundred fifty years and some hours later, another group of people spoke truth to power, fighting white supremacy as well.
Read 16 tweets
Hassan Ahmad Profile picture
12 Apr
Got a pair of U visa approvals today!

U visas provide status for victims of certain crimes. The qualifying rules can be quite technical. My clients waited nearly 6 years, for crimes that occurred 10-15 years ago.

All that uncertainty over status is now over.
There's a massive backlog of U visas: note how long these cases were pending. And one of the requirements is the police signing off on a certification form that qualifies the crime, and attests to the help the victim gave in prosecuting it.
U visas are a great way to engender trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.

Sadly, not all jurisdictions like to participate in such easy community policing. When police refuse to sign, the U visa is not available.

Signing U visas should be official policy!
Read 6 tweets

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