California Org. Focused on Curbing Population Growth Under Scrutiny for Anti-Immigrant Stance

The nonprofit Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) is under scrutiny for comments made by a member of the organization who said the DREAM Act is dangerous because children of “illegal aliens” may be communists or drug smugglers and because of ads against proposed parts of immigration reform like legalization or a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a dicey area to wade into for a nonprofit.

The organization is dedicated to “preserving California’s future through the stabilization of [the] state’s human population focusing on the “overpopulation and the environmental impacts of ‘too many people’ throughout the world.” This mission statement has led them to take on the issue of illegal immigration.

Marilyn Deyoung, chairman of the board for CAPS, was interviewed by Cuentame, a Latino social media advocacy organization, which posted the video on Youtube.

“A baby can join a gang and then commit a crime, a baby can drop out of school and become a criminal, a baby grows up,” she said about immigrants. “The DREAM act is dangerous, children of illegal aliens who were brought here under this stupid birthright citizenship visa.  They’re not getting into the depth of whether they’re communist or whether they’re drug smugglers or had felonies or had been in prison or anything. They know how to game our benefits — they’re on food stamps, they go to the hospital, get free education, free medical care.”

{snip}

Jo Wideman, executive director of CAPS, told NBC Latino Deyoung’s comments do not reflect those of the organization and that she is no longer a spokesperson for them.

“Her views expressed in that video are not views of the organization,” Wideman says. “Her comments were unfortunate, the video absolutely does not express the views of our organization.”

{snip}

Wideman said that the organization has a new website going up in a month that will more generally go back to their roots focused on the impact of population on the environment. “There are too many people in the United States. If amnesty is enacted, millions more people will be able to come,” she says, adding that it will affect the poorest of the poor in the country.

The National Council of La Raza said CAPS can say their concern is the environment, but that it is actually an anti-immigrant group.

{snip}

CAPS released a video this week taking on John McCain for his work on the bipartisan “Gang of 8″ Senators working on immigration reform.

{snip}