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NumbersUSA is an
anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...
Here Are the Most Anti-Immigrant Republicans Running This Year
Murguia, Sophie. '' Mother Jones'', 16 October 2018
advocacy group that seeks to reduce both legal and illegal
immigration to the United States Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of history of the United States, its history. As of January 2025, the United States has the la ...
. NumbersUSA was founded by Roy Beck in 1996, with assistance from the anti-immigration movement figure John Tanton. NumbersUSA, along with the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the
Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a nonprofit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immigr ...
(FAIR), two other groups that Tanton founded, formed "the bulk of the anti-immigration movement" in the United States as of 2018, according to ''
The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...
''.


History

NumbersUSA was founded by Roy Beck in 1996 after he wrote the book, ''The Case Against Immigration''. He claimed to have seen problems in the United States resulting from immigration during his research for the book, which he based on a study of crime in
Wausau, Wisconsin Wausau ( ) is a city in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Wisconsin River and had a population of 39,994 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the core city of the Wausau ...
. Beck, a newspaper journalist for three decades, had become an editor at the anti-immigration crusader John Tanton's ''The Social Contract'' starting in 1992, and would be an employee of Tanton's U.S. Inc. for 10 years. Tanton, who helped in the launching of NumbersUSA, had previously founded other anti-immigration groups including the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the
Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a nonprofit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immigr ...
(FAIR). As described in ''
The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...
'', "The three Washington groups worked in tandem: FAIR lobbied Congress, CIS testified at government hearings, and NumbersUSA had followers ring legislators’ phones off the hook." NumbersUSA said it was independent of Tanton since 2002. NumbersUSA credited Texas Democrat Barbara Jordan as its "spiritual godmother" after she chaired the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform committee from 1994 until her death. The organization claims that Jordan's recommendations to cut annual green cards from 675,000 a year to 550,000 as well as eliminating "chain migration" during the Clinton administration were in line with its mission to reduce job competition and lower fiscal costs. The Clinton administration did not move forward with the recommendations, though the Commission did establish E-Verify. Other members of the commission have stated that NumbersUSA took Jordan's recommendations out of context as it also proposed a global wait list for more than 1 million immigration applicants. In 2004, NumbersUSA reported 50,000 members. In 2007, NumbersUSA was influential in derailing a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill. The organization's members used information and tools from NumbersUSA to contact legislators and voice opposition. It claimed to have 1.5 million members that year. It has opposed United States immigration amnesty policies such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, claiming that "employers were allowed to hire the DACA parents for 10, 15, 20 years." During the
first Trump administration Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...
, NumbersUSA criticized efforts by Jared Kushner on concessions made in the legislative process of the RAISE Act after initially praising the president and called Trump "very weak" for not mandating E-Verify despite campaigning to "hire American". According to ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
'', NumbersUSA consisted of 2 million members as of 2013. In November 2022, the organization announced James Massa, a former
Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...
executive, as its next chief executive officer following the retirement of its founder, Beck.


Views

The organization's founder has claimed that the 1960s environmental movement and effect of population growth on natural resources led to an interest in immigration in the United States. NumbersUSA messaging argues that population growth is driven by immigration and that America does not have the infrastructure to support millions of migrants. It has opined that restricting immigration also increases jobs and wages for African American and Latino citizens with a message on its website stating "nothing about this website should be construed as advocating hostile actions or feelings toward immigrant Americans; illegal aliens deserve humane treatment even as they are detected, detained and deported." NumbersUSA began marketing a 1996 video presentation by its founder using gumballs to illustrate immigration to the United States with a conclusion that the country was not alleviating poverty worldwide by allowing migrants. This conclusion that the United States should increase immigration restrictions and help the impoverished where they are instead of allowing them to migrate to richer countries was met with criticism. The original video was viewed more the 6 million online before it was uploaded to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
in 2010. NumbersUSA has run ads containing "inaccurate, inflated and emotionally charged claims" according to FactCheck.Org and
PolitiFact PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times ...
. Over the first six months of 2013, NumbersUSA spent more than $450,000 on television ads opposing an immigration reform bill that year.


See also

*
Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a nonprofit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immigr ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Numbersusa Immigration political advocacy groups in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Arlington, Virginia Organizations established in 1997 Population concern organizations Anti-immigration politics in the United States