Joseph Turner

Vigilante: 'Deport Them All'

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 7/10/2008 5:55 pm

In case you thought the anti-immigrant fever of 2006 had broken, restrictionist think tanks are still promoting restriction, states are still passing immigrant crackdowns, and  there are still plenty of hard-core cranks across the country. A story from CBS 13 in Sacramento, California featured one man ennobled by his passion for confronting day laborers with a trailer-mounted billboard saying “DEPORT THEM ALL.”

[Davi Rodriguez] drives the sign up and down the streets of Sacramento where day laborers wait for work, sometimes videotaping the reactions and uploading them to YouTube. Workers we talked to say they feel harassed, and they're losing jobs.

(The CBS 13 site has video of the report.)

Harassment of day laborers is a common tactic of local anti-immigrant vigilantes. Rodriguez’s billboard directed viewers to go to the website of Save Our State, the group that wrote the blueprint for local immigration crackdowns in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and dozens of other cities. Two years ago, Save Our State founder Joseph Turner described his method of “saving” California from becoming a “Third World cesspool”:

"With as little as five people you can shut down a day-laborer center," says Mr. Turner, because employers will be too intimidated to stop and hire them. Contractors have been deterred from hiring from these sites during the protests and in several days that followed. Home Depot declines to comment on Mr. Turner.

As Turner explained then in another interview, this is all a way of expressing himself as a “proud nationalist”:

"I believe this country is superior and I believe our culture is superior to all others," he declared.

He sees illegal immigrants as the pre-eminent threat to that culture.

WSJ: Small Groups, Talk Radio Fuel Small-Town Anti-Immigrant Drive

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 9/28/2006 6:04 pm

An article (temporary link) in today’s Wall Street Journal examines the rise of nativist groups and anti-immigrant sentiment – such as California’s “Save Our State,” which inspired small towns like Hazleton, Pennsylvania to attempt to crack down on immigrants through local ordinances:

Armed with a computer and less than $100, Joseph Turner two years ago formed a group called "Save Our State." His goal: save California from turning into a "Third World cesspool" of illegal immigrants, he says. The group doesn't have a formal membership, and Mr. Turner counts barely 2,000 people on his email list and message board.

Yet this meager base has proved to be a powerful springboard. Through his Web site, Mr. Turner has recruited supporters to hold confrontational protests outside Home Depot stores, where unauthorized workers often gather to seek jobs. He has also helped ignite a nationwide movement by local governments to crack down on illegal immigration. So far, about 10 towns have passed ordinances to drive out undocumented immigrants after getting the idea from Mr. Turner. Dozens of other towns are considering such measures. …

"With as little as five people you can shut down a day-laborer center," says Mr. Turner, because employers will be too intimidated to stop and hire them. Contractors have been deterred from hiring from these sites during the protests and in several days that followed. Home Depot declines to comment on Mr. Turner.

At a rally outside the day-laborer center in the ritzy coastal town of Laguna Beach, neo-Nazis and white supremacists waved Nazi and confederate flags. Mr. Turner says they weren't welcome at the event but that he couldn't stop them and that Save our State members left shortly after they arrived. Mr. Turner says he also deletes white-supremacist rhetoric when it pops up on his Web site's message board.

About a year ago, Mr. Turner drafted a three-page ordinance -- the "City of San Bernardino Illegal Immigrant Relief Act." Although it was derailed before it could come to a citywide vote, the ordinance went on to be imitated, and passed, by several towns and cities across the country.

Meanwhile, towns that adopted the Turner-inspired ordinances, like Riverside, New Jersey, are reeling as large parts of the community leave:

Dave Ercolani is glad he's retiring and closing his hardware store. It could be tough to stay in business now that the township, not long ago teeming with recent arrivals from Brazil, has adopted one of the nation's toughest anti-immigration laws.

The town council adopted an ordinance in July that makes it a crime for businesses to knowingly employ illegal immigrants or for landlords to rent to them. Even though the law isn't being enforced, its effects can be felt because of a fast loss of hundreds of residents who have left town since the law was adopted.

"This town was starting to move," said Ercolani, who said he does not know whether the law was right or wrong. "I feel that they killed everything."

Riverside is an old industrial town on the banks of the Delaware River. Its downtown has wide sidewalks and wider streets lined with proud two-story buildings. Many of them - more than a few months ago - have "Apartment for Rent" or "Store Closed" signs. And on Wednesday afternoon, there was almost no life on the sidewalks. People who work downtown say that's a big change from before the ordinance was adopted.

Anti-Immigrant Ordinance Pioneer Warns of Threat from Inferior Cultures

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 8/21/2006 11:29 pm

While a number of localities have adopted or are considering implementing anti-immigrant ordinances modeled after Hazleton, Pennsylvania’s “Illegal Immigration Relief Act,” Hazleton’s measure was almost directly adopted from a failed petition drive in San Bernardino, California, written by Joseph Turner, head of a group called Save Our State. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on how the effort spread from California to the small town of Valley Park, Missouri, where – despite a lack of problems with its immigrant community – police have begun enforcing the new law:

From the beginning, this is how Joseph Turner envisioned his idea to target illegal immigrants would play out: Local communities taking up his cause and moving the issue from the halls of Congress into the chambers of city council. Today, the 29-year-old activist from California is watching cities across the country enact or consider laws to crack down on illegal immigration. They are working off a blueprint he wrote. And some, including Valley Park, have already made it law. …

Turner, founder of the anti-illegal immigration group Save Our State and an aide to a state legislator, touted his plan on the radio and sent out hundreds of e-mails to city officials throughout the nation. He failed to get enough signatures to force a vote on the law in San Bernardino. But word of his cause spread. And eventually, a handful of municipalities adopted ordinances nearly identical to the one he championed.

Turner describes himself as enjoying a “fulfilling experience” in response to stories about families being driven out of Valley Park. He also outlines his ideology:

Turner, who believes state and federal leaders have moved too slowly on immigration reform, describes himself as a "proud nationalist."

"I believe this country is superior and I believe our culture is superior to all others," he declared.

He sees illegal immigrants as the pre-eminent threat to that culture.

Turner is echoing sentiments expressed by Samuel Huntington and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), who warn of a “clash of civilizations” that threatens what Huntington calls America’s “Anglo-Protestant values.” Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported how such an approach tends to attract white supremacists, who see an outfit like Save Our State as a “Trojan horse” for extremists to influence mainstream politics.

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Joseph Turner Posts Archive

Vigilante: 'Deport Them All'
, Thursday 07/10/2008, 5:55pm
In case you thought the anti-immigrant fever of 2006 had broken, restrictionist think tanks are still promoting restriction, states are still passing immigrant crackdowns, and  there are still plenty of hard-core cranks across the country. A story from CBS 13 in Sacramento, California featured one man ennobled by his passion for confronting day laborers with a trailer-mounted billboard saying “DEPORT THEM ALL.” [Davi Rodriguez] drives the sign up and down the streets of Sacramento where day laborers wait for work, sometimes videotaping the reactions and... MORE >
WSJ: Small Groups, Talk Radio Fuel Small-Town Anti-Immigrant Drive
, Thursday 09/28/2006, 6:04pm
An article (temporary link) in today’s Wall Street Journal examines the rise of nativist groups and anti-immigrant sentiment – such as California’s “Save Our State,” which inspired small towns like Hazleton, Pennsylvania to attempt to crack down on immigrants through local ordinances: Armed with a computer and less than $100, Joseph Turner two years ago formed a group called "Save Our State." His goal: save California from turning into a "Third World cesspool" of illegal immigrants, he says. The group doesn't have a formal... MORE >
Anti-Immigrant Ordinance Pioneer Warns of Threat from Inferior Cultures
, Monday 08/21/2006, 11:29pm
While a number of localities have adopted or are considering implementing anti-immigrant ordinances modeled after Hazleton, Pennsylvania’s “Illegal Immigration Relief Act,” Hazleton’s measure was almost directly adopted from a failed petition drive in San Bernardino, California, written by Joseph Turner, head of a group called Save Our State. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on how the effort spread from California to the small town of Valley Park, Missouri, where – despite a lack of problems with its immigrant community – police have begun... MORE >