Save Our State

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.

While efforts by the Right to build a religious coalition on immigration never panned out, anti-immigrant activists in California have been steadily building their own version of a relationship with the religious community.

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

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