national council of la raza

National Council of La Raza (UnidosUS)

The National Council of La Raza - rebranded in July 2017 as "UnidosUS" - is a far-left racial power organization that's considered mainstream but which funds extremists (also here) and supports illegal immigration as a way of obtaining political power. Funded by, among others, the Ford Foundation, the U.S. government (also see this, this, and this), and major corporations such as HomeDepot and General Motors. Has been pandered to by many top politicians, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Karl Rove (see this). Per the Washington Post, they and a few other groups had "virtual veto power" over the provisions of the 2007 comprehensive immigration reform (i.e., amnesty) bill.

The NCLR offers an "Open Letter to the Public" called "The Truth About NCLR: NCLR Answers Critics" (nclr.org/content/viewpoints/detail/42500). The reader is encouraged to compare that to what follows.

Headed by Janet Murguia for several years, before then by Raul Yzaguirre. Former senior VP Cecilia Munoz is now part of the Obama administration. Former chairwoman is Monica Lozano (now on the Bank of America board, more here); current is Andrea Bazan (more here; she's also part of a DHS advisory council).

Their only known link to the Mexican government is that in May 2009 Murguia was given that government's "Ohtli Award", their highest honor for foreigners. That award is basically given to those putative Americans who push Mexico's agenda inside the U.S. They're also part of organizations that include others linked to that government (see Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform) (also see this) and they take every chance they can to support illegal immigration.

In 1994, they gave their "Chicano Hero Award" to the person who'd made this statement years earlier (more on him at [1], [2], [3]; original newspaper report here):

"We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him."

Despite that, the NCLR has taken part in campaigns against "hate speech" and has tried to silence those who discuss facts about illegal immigration. An NCLR rep called the Fairness Doctrine a "partial solution".

The NCLR has consistently opposed most immigration enforcement. In 2007, they joined with some Mexico-linked groups to oppose workplace raids. More recently, they called for a moratorium on those immigration raids until such time as an amnesty bill passes. Also in 2007, they opposed a bill that would have stopped most home loans to illegal aliens. They even wanted to give a special break to illegal aliens charged with identity theft. From one of their reports:

Congress should revise the rules concerning release, deportation, and banishment of noncitizens charged with nonviolent offenses such as identity theft, so that arrested parents can be reunited with their children in cases where children face hardship.

Note that their proposal would only apply to illegal aliens and not to U.S. citizens who were accused of the same crime.

In 2006, Michele Waslin - their former director of Immigration Policy Research - wrote the following about an amendment to an amnesty bill:

"...while it doesn't overtly mention assimilation, it is very strong on the patriotism and traditional american [sic] values language in a way which is potentially dangerous to our communities."

They support giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens; in 2004 they threatened to withdraw a convention in California if Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill from Gil Cedillo that would allow that. Munoz had to "take a deep breath" after John Kerry took the American position.

They "urge passage" (nclr.org/content/policy/detail/1331) of the DREAM Act, an anti-American bill that would let the illegal aliens covered by the bill take college educations away from U.S. citizens. See that link for the details.

In December 2008 they joined with several other organizations to demand universal healthcare for all, including illegal aliens.

They refused to denounce Elvira Arellano, the convicted felon who'd been ordered deported and instead holed up in a Chicago church.

They didn't oppose the 2006 events featuring foreign citizens marching through our streets demanding that we change our laws to suit them; they just wanted the marches to be after work or school. They opposed HR4437, in part because of its impact on day laborers centers; about 75% of day laborers are illegal aliens per a UCLA study. During Katrina, they supported illegal aliens taking jobs from American hurricane victims. They also admitted that their "constituents" included illegal aliens. In 2005, they got current Ag Secretary and then Iowa governor Tom Vilsack to apologize for supporting an English-only bill. For examples of their low credibility, here's a misleading Murguia editorial and a disreputable editorial from an NCLR official. And, regarding their past president, see the round-up of Yzaguirre's support for illegal immigration.

In 2004, Munoz appeared on a Western Union panel; that company profits when illegal aliens send money back to their home countries (remittances).

From the pro-business side, they supported AgJobs, an amnesty with an indentured servitude component and their president came out in support of guest workers. In 2007, they joined an amnesty-supporting alliance that included the US Chamber of Commerce. See also this other group including the Chamber as well as a Mexican citizen helping set U.S. immigration policy.

Important note: Some opponents of illegal immigration weaken their case by confusing the NCLR with other groups, parties, movements, or concepts that have "La Raza" in their name; for instance, the NCLR and the defunct La Raza Unida Party are not the same thing. The NCLR has not advocated for reconquista but has issued (lukewarm) renunciations of that general movement. Opponents should concentrate on their reflexive, race-based support for illegal activity and their receipt of government funds, some of which is funneled to extremists.

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[1] vdare · com/awall/gutierrez.htm
[2] uta · edu/ucomm/mediarelations/official-statements/statements/Statements-by-Jose-Angel-Gutierrez.php [no longer available]
[3] discoverthenetworks · org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2212

Last modified Jul 17, 2017
Discussed in (click each link for the full post):

Donald Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson vs things called "La Raza" - 06/01/16

For at least five years, the National Council of La Raza page at this site has included this at the end of the summary:

Democrats, far-left praise Marco Rubio's immigration moves (NCLR; Sharry; IPC; Obama and Gutierrez spox) - 01/20/13

In a January 18, 2013 press release, Marco Rubio lists some of the supposed conservatives who support his immigration amnesty plan ( peekURL.com/zycdzeU ). To be balanced, here are some positive mentions of his plan (or at least support for his actions on comprehensive immigration reform) from those Rubio should be opposing on immigration: the Democrats and the far-left.

NCLR, SEIU, LULAC, NALEO flex their racial power and threaten Congress in new amnesty push - 12/12/12

When is ethnic nationalism and a completely race-based attitude to everything OK? When is the raw pursuit of racial power OK? When is it OK to make borderline threats against Members of Congress? When Hispanics do it, of course. From "Latino Groups Warn Congress to Fix Immigration, or Else" by Julia Preston of the New York Times ( peekURL.com/zxs7JY2 ):

NCLR's Murguia: blacks, Latinos should "attack those common enemies" - 04/12/12

The video below is audio of Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza saying the following (via Radio Equalizer, [1]): I think for us it's about understanding that we have common interests and we have to be able to understand that our demographics today, a lot of people want to pit who’s the largest minority vs. who's taking over as the largest demographic and all that.

Cecilia Munoz named to head Domestic Policy Council (former NCLR official) - 01/10/12

From this: The White House announced Tuesday that Cecilia Munoz, a former senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, would replace Melody Barnes at the top of the [Domestic Policy Council]... Munoz is now serving as the White House's director of intergovernmental affairs and is in charge of outreach to state and local governments...

Dozens of pro-illegal immigration groups were invited to Obama's mini-amnesty rollout and you weren't - 08/25/11

On August 18, Barack Obama's Department of Homeland Security announced an administrative amnesty that could cover 300,000 or more illegal aliens.

Obama at NCLR: "yes, but..." on immigration enforcement; promotes jobs for possible illegal alien construction workers; DREAM Act; comprehensive reform... - 07/25/11

Barack Obama appeared at the National Council of La Raza convention earlier today; see the last link for our extensive coverage of that group. His unremarkable remarks are at [1]: he didn't really say anything that he hasn't said before. As he's done before, he misled, such as by using the system is broken canard.

Supreme Court upholds 2007 Arizona immigration enforcement law; eVerify; losing: US Chamber, DOJ, Berman, NCLR, ADL, SPLC, AILA, SEIU, LULAC - 05/26/11

In a major victory for states that want to reduce illegal immigration, the US Supreme Court has upheld Arizona's 2007 "Legal Arizona Workers Act" employer enforcement law that requires the use of eVerify and that allows Arizona to pull the business licenses of companies that knowingly hire illegal aliens. Note that the 2007 law and the decision have no relation to Arizona's more recent immigration law. A Los Angeles Times article is here, and links to legal documents are here. Sonia Sotomayor voted in dissent; see her name's link. Those who opposed Arizona's law in court and who lost today...

NCLR congratulates SEIU on 90th anniversary (Janet Murguia, Eliseo Medina) - 04/29/11

Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza has written a letter to the Service Employees International Union congratulating them on their 90th anniversary. In it she gives a shout-out to their International Secretary Treasurer Eliseo Medina and commends them for their work on comprehensive immigration reform, aka amnesty. (Note: see all those links for background information). She also references how the SEIU "recognized early on that their membership was changing and growing more diverse". In other words, the SEIU realized that all those illegal aliens could be organized to form a...

NCLR letter for DREAM Act misleads (Richardson, Villaraigosa, Linda Chavez, Lionel Sosa) - 12/16/10

The National Council of La Raza has sent an open letter [1] to senators Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell urging them to pass the anti-American DREAM Act. That bill would let the illegal aliens covered by it take college resources from Americans: it would deprive some Americans of college educations. And, the NCLR's letter is misleading and signed by a small grab bag of very questionable people. It starts: As Latino leaders in government, business, entertainment, and sports, we urge members of Congress to support the "Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act." This modest...

Group circulates list of 1300 supposed illegal aliens in Utah, a problematic, counter-productive waste of time - 07/13/10

From this: An anonymous group [note: using the name Concerned Citizens of the United States] says it quietly watched Hispanics in their neighborhoods, schools, churches and "public welfare buildings" to compile a list of 1,300 people it says are illegal immigrants living in Utah. The group sent the list to law enforcement agencies and news media demanding that those named "be deported immediately." ...It is not known who produced the list, although Gov. Gary Herbert has called for an investigation to see if the list was compiled by someone with access to state databases containing personal...

SEIU, NCLR release incredibly deceptive immigration poll (Andrea Nill, Arizona) - 05/15/10

The Service Employees International Union and the National Council of La Raza have released a new immigration poll of likely voters in Arizona [1], specifically asking about that state's new law and about

Questionable NCLR poll: 81% of Latinos oppose Arizona immigration law; plays race card - 05/11/10

The National Council of La Raza and others [1] recently released a poll [2] making the claim that 70% of Latinos "strongly oppose" the new Arizona immigration law, with 11% in the "somewhat oppose" camp. Their findings are a bit questionable considering the results to the first question "What do you think are the most important issues that President Obama and the Congress should address over the next year?" Respondents were allowed to choose two of these: Immigration 59% Fix the economy 22% Health Care 17% Create more jobs 13% Education 5% War on terror 4% Banking reform 2% Those results seem...

NCLR, LULAC, SEIU, UFCW, etc. launch boycott of Arizona over immigration law (+Al Sharpton) - 05/06/10

A whole host of far-left illegal immigration profiteers today launched an organized boycott of Arizona over that state's new immigration law (nclr.org/content/news/detail/63211). See the last link for our extensive coverage of that law, and see each of the following links for our coverage of the groups. Those participating include:

NCLR blocked me on Twitter - 03/13/10

Shortly after Twitter introduced lists, I made a few as an experiment [1]. One was called "The other side" (twitter . com/24AheadDotCom/the-other-side) which at post time is blank. However, it used to have tweets from @NCLR, and I was going to eventually get around to adding other groups. I don't think I ever sent a tweet to @NCLR, so apparently the only thing NCLR didn't appreciate was being added to that list.

Obama meets with black leaders on unemployment, Hispanic leaders on amnesty (+Graham, Schumer) - 03/11/10

Barack Obama met earlier today with two groups with competing interests, even if neither he nor most of the rest of the political establishment would even hint at that (link): [At a White House meeting earlier today] African-American members of Congress said they told the president that job creation is critical to their communities and that federal resources should be directed toward workforce training, specifically for infrastructure projects. Unemployment among black Americans was 15.8 percent in February, compared to the overall jobless rate of 9.7 percent nationally. "We talked about the...

"Temporary" Protected Status for Haitian illegal aliens pushed by profiteers (Haiti earthquake) - 01/14/10

[TPS has been approved; see the update below] Yesterday, Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security suspended repatriations of illegal aliens from Haiti; that makes some sense as long as it's actually temporary. What doesn't make sense are the calls from some to give "Temporary Protected Status" in the U.S. to Haitian illegal aliens. The word "temporary" is generally a misnomer as that status is renewed over and over. TPS would be an infected band-aid that wouldn't fix Haiti's structural problems and in some cases would result in importing Haiti's problems into the U.S. It would...

Mari Del Carmen Aponte nominated Ambassador to El Salvador: NCLR, PRLDEF links; cleared of being Cuban spy - 12/21/09

Barack Obama has nominated Mari Del Carmen Aponte to be Ambassador to El Salvador:

Fmr. NCLR president Raul Yzaguirre nominated ambassador to the Dominican Republic - 12/01/09

Raul Yzaguirre - former president of the National Council of La Raza - has been nominated to be the ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Janet Murguia of NCLR cheers Lou Dobbs departure, warns of more to come - 11/22/09

Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza takes to the pages of Alternet to offer "Dobbs' Resignation Was Long Overdue" (alternet.org/story/144089/dobbs'_resignation_was_long_overdue). Somewhat surprisingly, it doesn't seem to contain any outright lies, just smears and misleading statements. For instance, she tries to blame an increase in hate crimes on Dobbs and others: The rhetoric that Lou and other extreme commentators used surrounding the debate took a harsh turn, so much so that a member of my staff called it a "wave of hate" and said that "this no longer sounds like it's about...

LULAC, Mark Potok of SPLC, NCLR, America's Voice, MMFA cheer & smear over Dobbs leaving - 11/12/09

There's a round-up of reaction from far-left groups to Lou Dobbs' announcement that he's leaving CNN here.

Shot fired at Lou Dobbs' house; what you can do about it - 10/29/09

On his Monday radio show, Lou Dobbs announced that a few weeks ago someone shot at his house while his wife was just 15 feet away. And, that followed a series of threatening phone calls; the state police are currently investigating. Audio of his broadcast is attached, and a partial transcript (via this) is at [1].

Janet Murguia of NCLR called out over Latino/Hispanic label not including indigenous people - 10/23/09

The attached video shows Janet Murguia - head of the National Council of La Raza - being called out by an indigenous activist over her contention that the "Latino" and "Hispanic" labels don't include the indigenous. It's partially a hilarious example of a Race Warrior being hoist on her own petard.

"Health Equity for All": racial power groups push healthcare reform ("new majority") - 10/05/09

A group of far-left organizations have created "Health Equity for All" (healthequityforall.org) to push for "universal health care reform". And, they're doing it from an explicitly race-based standpoint and being quite explicit about their attempts to gain race-based power.

Democrats: cover legal immigrants in Obamacare, give illegal aliens access (Honda, NCLR - 09/28/09

Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times offers "Liberals seek health-care access for illegals": Fearful that they're losing ground on immigration and health care, a group of House Democrats is pushing back and arguing that any health care bill should extend to all legal immigrants and allow illegal immigrants some access. ..."Legal permanent residents should be able to purchase their plans, and they should also be eligible for subsidies if they need it. Undocumented, if they can afford it, should be able to buy their own private plans [even on the proposed Exchange]. It keeps them out of the...

Drop Dobbs: illegal activity-supporting racial power groups and far-left want Lou Dobbs off CNN - 09/17/09

A coalition of illegal immigration-supporting far-left and/or racial power groups has launched a campaign called "Drop Dobbs" to get advertisers to pull their ads from CNN's Lou Dobbs show (dropdobbs.com, mediamatters.org/blog/200909150031): "...The effort aims to let companies know that their continued financial support of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight makes them complicit in the hate speech and wild conspiracy theories that he promotes..." Campaigns like this - following on the heels of the somewhat successful similar campaign against Glenn Beck - stand a greater chance of success given the fact...

NILC, ACLU, AILA, NCLR, Schey, hundreds more demand Obama ends 287g program - 08/27/09

Continuing their campaign against the 287g program, the American Civil Liberties Union - a group that is/was directly collaborating with the Mexican government - informs us that they and about 500 other groups have sent a letter to

Napolitano immigration meeting: you weren't represented (vast # of loose borders groups, Obama/Janet anti-287g) - 08/20/09

Earlier today, Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security held a closed-door meeting with a group of what she calls "stakeholders" (dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1250792978709.shtm) but was actually a vast pantheon (see below) of far-left, racial power, corrupt business, and in general loose borders groups all of which want some form of comprehensive immigration reform, aka amnesty. There were at least 98 participants in the meeting, and none of them represent your interests or the interests of the great majority of American citizens. Why exactly they'd hold the meeting isn't clear;...

George Soros gives $5 million to push Obamacare (HCAN, NCLR, ACORN, SEIU, etc...) - 08/11/09

George Soros has contributed $5 million to the group Health Care For America Now (healthcareforamericanow.org) so that they can push Obamacare. That's dwarfed by the $35 million he's giving to help/"help" children in New York (in partnership with the federal government, [1]). As discussed here, HCAN is considered a bit on the wimpy side by the far-left, such as Jane Hamsher. That's despite HCAN including some true "liberal" stalwarts. Their steering committee includes the following: * ACORN * AFL CIO * American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) * Campaign for...

Janet Murguia spins "La Raza" and their promotion of extremist groups - 08/06/09

Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza takes to the pages of the Huffington Post to offer "There They Go Again: Tom Tancredo, Mark Krikorian and the Politics of Hate and Fear" (huffingtonpost.com/janet-murguia/there-they-go-again-tom-t_b_251584.html). See the earlier National Council of La Raza promotes radical groups for the backstory. She says: Krikorian of CIS joined in yesterday trying to give Tancredo's rant some credence by harping on the term "La Raza," as in "The National Council of La Raza." Both Tancredo and CIS claim this term translates pejoratively into "The Race"...

National Council of La Raza promotes radical groups - 08/03/09

Tom Tancredo writes: The National Council of La Raza bills itself as "the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States" who works through "its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations." Among these affiliates are several chapters of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan) who La Raza helps fund. Aztlan is what radical "Mechistas"—as they refer to themselves on La Raza’s website—call the American Southwest, which they claim still belongs to Mexico. Their slogan is "Por La Raza todo, Fuera...

NCLR: universal healthcare should include illegal aliens; Janet Murguia's transparent plea - 06/22/09

Via this, the National Council of La Raza has issued a new, completely transparent plea to include illegal aliens in universal healthcare (nclr.org/content/news/detail/57979). They're "strongly urg[ing] President Obama and Congress to make every effort to ensure that health care reform reaches all communities", and they don't want there to be any citizenship or related eligibility testing. They also make this statement: No single community stands to gain as much from this important debate as Latinos. In the U.S., one out of every three uninsured persons and roughly 40% of all uninsured...

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights supports illegal immigration, misleads about hate crimes (SPLC, MALDEF, ADL, NCLR, NHMC...) - 06/19/09

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has released a new report called "Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America 2009" [1]. It's the latest salvo in the attempt by several far-left groups to support massive illegal immigration and to silence their critics. They name-check several of those groups, but their exact involvement in the report isn't clear; the mentions might just be boilerplate. For just one example of how the LCCR is attempting to mislead, see the attached picture. The ominous-looking graph on the top (from the LCCR) shows anti-Hispanic hate crimes from 2003...

Kristin Collins/News & Observer misleads about NCLR (Andrea Bazan) - 06/18/09

Kristin Collins of the Raleigh, North Carolina News & Observer offers "La Raza drawn into debate/Sotomayor is a former member" (link), about Sonia Sotomayor's membership in the NCLR. If you trust Collins' reporting, please compare her report to my extensive summary of that group on the National Council of La Raza page. You'll discover a large number of things Collins didn't tell you; whether that's because she's completely gullible or because she's in on the game isn't known, but in either case her journalistic skills are questionable. The article might be an indication that the NCLR (or...

Janet Murguia of NCLR gets Mexican government's highest award for foreigners; Sarukhan promotes Latino voting, participation - 06/08/09

Back on May 5, the Mexican government gave their highest award for foreigners - the "Ohtli Award" - to Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza. That award is basically given to putative Americans who help the government of Mexico push their agenda inside the U.S.; a list of past winners is here. Per Google's accurate translation, those awards: recognize the contribution of the winners to the empowerment of Mexican communities and Mexican-American in United States (que reconocen la contribución de los galardonados al empoderamiento de las comunidades mexicana y mexicano-americana en...

DHS Southwest Border Task Force includes NCLR chairwoman, recipient of award from Mexican government, more - 06/08/09

The Reform Immigration for America group recently suggested that one part of "reform" should include the formation of an advisory council to make recommendations on dealing with border issues. The Department of Homeland Security's new "Southwest Border Task Force" (dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1244145382319.shtm) shows how that would work.

Sonia Sotomayor was member of National Council of La Raza from 1998 to 2004 (+Raul Yzaguirre) - 06/05/09

As first discussed here over a week ago, Sonia Sotomayor was member of the far-left, illegal activity-supporting, extemist-funding, racist-awarding National Council of La Raza. Now we know that she was a member from 1998 to 2004 (link).

Does Janet Murguia of NCLR oppose apprehending criminal illegal aliens? (calls those raids "un-American") - 06/04/09

That's the impression I'm getting from this: "For far too long, we have allowed a can’t-do minority to block progress and manipulate this issue to tear our country apart, but the urgency for reform is clear: economically, practically, and morally,” said NCLR president Janet Murguia. "Policies that call for SWAT-like teams to pluck people out of their beds in the middle of the night, lead to racial profiling, separate families, exploit workers, and ignore due process are shamefully un-American." I read the last bit as independent statements: she's opposed to each of those individually. For...

Harry Reid says want immigration "reform" this year; NCLR, MALDEF; business-friendly guest worker plan; promotes unrealistic chain migration - 06/04/09

Earlier today, Harry Reid met with MALDEF and the National Council of La Raza, presumably to discuss comprehensive immigration reform. Before or after, speaking to reporters, he said this: "As far as I’m concerned, we have three major issues we have to do this year, if at all possible: No. 1 is healthcare; No 2 is energy, global warming; No. 3 is immigration reform... It’s going to happen this session, but I want it this year, if at all possible... ...We need (a guest workers plan not just in agriculture but) in the food industry; we need it in the tourism [business] Aside from a massive...

NCLR makes hay out of opponents' mistakes (Sotomayor) - 06/03/09

One would think that a group that gave an award to someone who'd proposed genocide wouldn't have much of a chance at beating their opponents. Yet, the National Council of La Raza is in the lucky position that most of their leading opposition doesn't have a clue about that organization or doesn't have a clue about the best way to oppose them. (For those curious, the way to oppose them is simple: just tell the truth. See the extensive summary of their activities at the last link.)

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