Posted on February 24, 2006

Anti-Immigration Group to Meet in Herndon

Karin Brulliard, Washington Post, February 24, 2006

About 300 followers of an organization labeled a “hate group” will gather at a Herndon hotel today for a conference at which speakers will expound on what they see as the global threat of immigration to whites and the moral and intellectual differences among races.

American Renaissance, a Fairfax County-based journal, will hold its seventh biennial conference at the Hyatt Dulles hotel. Its focus will be the “defense of Western civilization,” organizers said.

Immigrants are “changing [white] societies in ways that most white people don’t like,” said Oakton resident Jared Taylor, the journal’s editor.

The three-day conference has been held in Northern Virginia before. But some observers fear its presence in Herndon — where recent controversy over a day-laborer hiring center spawned protests — could bring trouble.

“Herndon suddenly has become a hotbed of discontent for anti-immigration groups,” said Mukit Hossain, founder of Project Hope and Harmony, which runs the laborers’ hiring center. “I am concerned with the potential for hate crime which may be generated by events like this.”

The workers’ center will dispatch extra volunteers to help deal with any conflict that might arise, director Bill Threlkeld said. Police in Herndon and Fairfax County said they are aware of the conference but have no special plans for it.

Activists plan to protest outside the Hyatt and counter-protest at the job center if necessary, said Marco Del Fuego of the Olive Branch Community, a District group that advocates for immigrants.

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The New Century Foundation, which publishes the journal, is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Mark Potok, editor of the center’s intelligence report.

“Basically, this is a batch of gussied-up white supremacists, but they are very much the button-down crowd,” Potok said.

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