Howmuch.net Removes FAIR’s Biased Illegal Immigration Information

Recently I posted a rebuttal to Wayne Grudem’s attempt to theologically defend Donald Trump’s border wall. A commenter on that post cited a Howmuch.net article claiming that the costs of illegal immigration are far greater than building Trump’s wall.

The source for that Howmuch.net article was the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR) widely quoted estimate about costs of illegal immigration. Howmuch.net had reconfigured those claims and included them in their article. FAIR claims illegal immigration costs the states over $100 billion per year.

Another reader then contacted Howmuch.net and expressed concerns about the source of the information in the article. Earlier this week, I learned that Howmuch.net reviewed FAIR’s website and information about the organization and has now deleted the page from their website.

FAIR’s estimates have been widely condemned as biased and flawed. Those who founded FAIR have a clear bias against immigrants of color and have consistently sought to limit all immigration, not just illegal immigration. FAIR is an organization has supported Donald Trump when he takes their hard line.

A representative of Howmuch.net sent this statement to me about their decision to remove the article.

HowMuch.net seeks to provide interesting data visualizations and articles to explore financial and economic topics for a broad audience of readers. We always strive to use fair and impartial sources for our data. It was recently brought to our attention that an article using data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) did not meet our standards for impartiality. We immediately took down the article from our website. We do not subscribe to or advocate for any particular public policy position, and as a result, FAIR does not meet our requirements.

The founder of FAIR, John Tanton, once remarked to supporters that whites were losing their majority and challenged them:

As whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?

The history of FAIR is in nativism and resistance to immigration of any kind which isn’t white.  I commend the proactive reader and the folks at Howmuch.net for their speedy response to the legitimate concerns.

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13 thoughts on “Howmuch.net Removes FAIR’s Biased Illegal Immigration Information”

  1. I realize this is a very old post, but for those interested in the immigration issue, I would recommend watching Netflix’s “Immigration Nation”.

    Warren, I know you previously posted about border agents and the Milgram Experiment, this documentary shows it isn’t just the agents at the border. While no one literally says ‘I’m just following orders” several ICE agents effectively say it.

    further, the ICE PR guy would have made Goebbels jealous.

  2. If we ever experience a time when we examine the current period objectively and factually, people will learn that one of the biggest lies of the Trump administration was the claim that we are suffering a “crisis” on the border. Trump routinely bellows that people are “pouring” over our southern border. They aren’t. This is a manufactured crisis, an authoritarian tactic to generate fear and suspicion of “the Other,” a label this president extends to all immigrants. Oh, he says he wants immigrants to use the “legal process” (which asylum seekers in fact are), but in actuality he is creating a fantasy of Fortress America, one where there is definitely and “us” and a “them.”

    Goebbels would recognize the tactic, and applaud.

    1. The other manufactured ‘crisis’ promoted by Trump is the claim these immigrants are sadistic ‘animals’, out to kill Americans. NPR recently published a report on four academic studies that all show illegal immigrants do not increase violent or property crime. In fact, in the study by Cato that focused on Texas the results showed criminal conviction and arrest rates in Texas for undocumented immigrants were lower than those of native-born Americans for murder, sexual assault and larceny.

      Once again, Trump demonstrates that he has a grasp on how fear works for and favors his authoritarian side. Yay. /s.

      1. This is how he thinks. He formed these opinions years and years ago, and they weren’t based on facts then, either. Just listen to him on NATO. He has long been convinced that everyone is out to screw him, and, by extension, America. The world is full of enemies, and he has no friends.

        He is a miserable, deeply insecure little man. And ignorant AF.

  3. This is how organizations such as FAIR function. They use a facade of fairness and balance (it’s in their acronym even) to gain the appearance of legitimacy. Tangential associations such as howmuch.net’s use of their data reinforce this image and they use it as camouflage. This is one of the main functions of the SPLC and has been for decades, to do the research and present their case so that others can make a decision based on facts, not PR.

    The second part of the camouflage are the accusations leveled against those who sound the alarm, such as the comment in the previous thread about “how little it takes to get on the SPLC’s hate group list.” What is ignored by these attacks is that the SPLC does not hide their data or reasoning, they spell it out so others can make their own decision. In this case, there is no way around the conclusion that the agenda of FAIR is beyond racist, beyond un-American. But even if one does not like the SPLC, the evidence is still available.

    This is, unfortunately, where we find ourselves with the current president, but the real danger is how many people – otherwise reasonable people – have been caught up in the hatred. You don’t have to be in the opposing party to recognize this for what it is and call it out. You need only be a human being with some concept of history, and a shred of humanity. This goes far beyond immigration, which while a pressing issue simply isn’t our biggest worry at the moment.

    I think they should have done a better job of vetting their data source on such a charged subject, but kudos to howmuch.net for disassociating themselves from it when presented with the truth.

  4. This is how organizations such as FAIR function. They use a facade of fairness and balance (it’s in their acronym even) to gain the appearance of legitimacy. Tangential associations such as howmuch.net’s use of their data reinforce this image and they use it as camouflage. This is one of the main functions of the SPLC and has been for decades, to do the research and present their case so that others can make a decision based on facts, not PR.

    The second part of the camouflage are the accusations leveled against those who sound the alarm, such as the comment in the previous thread about “how little it takes to get on the SPLC’s hate group list.” What is ignored by these attacks is that the SPLC does not hide their data or reasoning, they spell it out so others can make their own decision. In this case, there is no way around the conclusion that the agenda of FAIR is beyond racist, beyond un-American. But even if one does not like the SPLC, the evidence is still available.

    This is, unfortunately, where we find ourselves with the current president, but the real danger is how many people – otherwise reasonable people – have been caught up in the hatred. You don’t have to be in the opposing party to recognize this for what it is and call it out. You need only be a human being with some concept of history, and a shred of humanity. This goes far beyond immigration, which while a pressing issue simply isn’t our biggest worry at the moment.

    I think they should have done a better job of vetting their data source on such a charged subject, but kudos to howmuch.net for disassociating themselves from it when presented with the truth.

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