Roy Howard Beck (born July 12, 1948) is an American author and the founder and president of the anti-immigration advocacy organization
NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA is an anti-immigration[Booth Newspapers
MLive Media Group, originally known as Booth Newspapers, or Booth Michigan, is a media group that produces newspapers from the state of Michigan in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded by George Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold ...]
and an environment-beat newspaper reporter, formerly with ''
The Grand Rapids Press
''The Grand Rapids Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 20 ...
'' and ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer
''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, altho ...
''.
Beck was also the Washington, DC editor of
John Tanton's
white nationalist
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...
magazine ''
The Social Contract
''The Social Contract'', originally published as ''On the Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right'' (), is a 1762 French-language book by the Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The book theorizes about how ...
''.
Career
Beck is a graduate of the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...
School of Journalism. He was raised in
Marshfield, Missouri
Marshfield is a city in and the county seat of Webster County, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, Marshfield had a population of 7,458. As of 2024, the population is estimated to be 7,935. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri, metropolitan ar ...
and delivered milk and collected cans for pocket money in his youth. During the late 1960s, Beck worked at ''The Grand Rapids Press'' and ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' as an environmental journalist. He has claimed that the consequences of population growth on natural resources which became a concern during the 1960s environmental movement led to his interest in immigration. Beck worked as the Washington editor of
Social Contract Press
The Social Contract Press (SCP) is an American publisher of white nationalist and anti-immigration, anti-immigrant literature. It is a program of U.S. Inc., a foundation formed by John Tanton, who was called by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPL ...
, which has been designated as a
hate group
A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society.
Acc ...
by the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
.
He left journalism during the 1990s and founded NumbersUSA. Beck has gained notable attention in 1996 via a disputed
Immigration, Poverty and Gumballs
', BS King, ''Graph Paper Diaries'', January 21, 2016.
Immigration, Poverty and Gumballs Part 2: The Amazing World of Gumball
', BS King, ''Graph Paper Diaries'', February 22, 2017. presentation recorded on a VHS tape where he used gumballs to show that immigration to the United States did not alleviate world poverty, because so many remained impoverished outside of the United States. The conclusion was that the United States should restrict immigration more and help the impoverished where they are, instead of allowing them to migrate to richer countries.
David R. Henderson, an economist at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, noted that Beck makes it seem as if allowing immigration is done at a cost to Americans, but that is not what research on the issue indicates. That same year, Beck authored the book ''The Case Against Immigration'' which was released in the lead-up to the 1996 elections in the United States.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' credited Beck's NumbersUSA organization with applying enough pressure to U.S. Senators to defeat a comprehensive immigration bill in June 2007. He has been described as a "tutor" for U.S. Representative
Tom Tancredo
Thomas Gerard Tancredo (; born December 20, 1945) is an American politician from Colorado, who represented Colorado's 6th congressional district, the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to ...
on immigration issues. According to ''The Washington Post'', Beck had "been marginalized in Washington as an eccentric figure." He released ''Back of the Hiring Line'' in 2021 which focused on if American institutions owe U.S. citizens.
Bibliography
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References
External links
Biography at NumbersUSA*
The Case Against Immigration by Roy BeckRe-Charting America's Future by Roy BeckImmigration, World Poverty and Gumballs VideoYale Global: With Little Notice, Globalization Reduced Poverty*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Roy
Living people
American non-fiction environmental writers
American conservationists
Anti-immigration activists
American activist journalists
University of Missouri alumni
The Cincinnati Enquirer people
People from Marshfield, Missouri
1948 births