Fox Responds To Murdoch's Pro-Immigration Op-Ed By Hosting Extreme Anti-Immigrant Group

Fox News responded to News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch's pro-immigration reform op-ed by hosting the head of an anti-immigrant hate group to argue against his position on immigration reform.

In a June 18 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Murdoch, CEO of Fox News's parent company News Corp, endorsed comprehensive immigration reform, arguing that "[i]mmigrants enrich our culture and add to our economic prosperity:"

People are looking for leadership--those who stand for something and offer a vision for how to take America forward and keep our nation economically competitive. One of the most immediate ways to revitalize our economy is by passing immigration reform.

I chose to come to America and become a citizen because America was--and remains--the most free and entrepreneurial nation in the world. Our history is defined by people whose character and culture have been shaped by ambition, imagination and hard work, bound together by a dream of a better life.

Later that day, Fox invited Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) to respond to Murdoch's op-ed on The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson. During the show, host Carlson moderated a debate between Stein and immigration attorney Francisco Hernandez where Stein accused the Obama administration of “openly sabotaging” immigration law enforcement because Obama doesn't believe anyone ought to go home. 

But FAIR is an extremist organization with ties to white nationalist groups. According to the Center for New Community, FAIR has close ties to the White Nationalist Council of Conservative Citizens and has received over $1.2 million from the white supremacist group The Pioneer Fund. FAIR has been designated as a hate group with “ties to white supremacist groups and eugenicists” beliefs by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). In fact, SPLC highlighted racist statements made by Stein during an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson in 1997:

“Immigrants don't come all church-loving, freedom-loving, God-fearing ... Many of them hate America, hate everything that the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans.” 
-- FAIR President Dan Stein, interviewed by Tucker Carlson, Oct. 2, 1997

This isn't the first time the group's extreme views have been given a platform on Fox. In a 2013 FoxNews.com op-ed, Stein pushed the false claim that immigrants would receive “tax amnesty” under immigration reform bill. In 2011, Fox allowed Stein to push the ridiculous “anchor baby” myth, that pregnant women from other countries were routinely traveling to the US to give birth to children so they could become US citizens.

Murdoch and Fox News continue to be miles apart on immigration reform, although Fox has been known to tone it down when Murdoch is around.