Talk:L. Francis Cissna

What's up with the new mission statement for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services?
And added something about "honoring our values" that doesn't include the values carved onto the Statute of Liberty.
 * Deleted "America's promise as a nation of immigrants"
 * Deleted "providing accurate and useful information"
 * Deleted "citizenship benefits"

Who's stupid idea was this?

Old version: USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.”

Xenophobic version:    “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.”

https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-director-l-francis-cissna-new-agency-mission-statement


 * Please try to maintain neutrality 24.184.182.219 (talk) 18:41, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

John Tanton, Political Labels of- and Cissna's Relationship to
The current version of the article reads as follows:

"Center for Immigration Studies Appearance In August, 2018, Cissna drew protests when he spoke at an event organized by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).[17] CIS is a non profit which advocates restricting immigration, co-founded by white nationalist John Tanton.[18]"

The hyperlinked citation was for " "Is the Center for Immigration Studies a 'hate group' ?". PolitiFact Florida. Retrieved 2018-09-21." https://www.politifact.com/florida/article/2017/mar/22/center-immigration-studies-hate-group-southern-pov/

The relevant quotation is as follows:

"Heidi Beirich, director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project, summarized why CIS landed on the list in the America’s Voice blog: "CIS has a long history of bigotry, starting with its founder, white nationalist John Tanton, but in 2016, the group hit a new low.""

The problem is thus: Wikipedia is standing by a label (X is a Y), citing line from a PolitiFact article (which is not improper in and of itself), in turn quoting an Americasvoice.org blog (questionable), in turn quoting the SPLC intelligence project director (fine, such that it is verified that this represents Beirich's views, and discloses the extent to which the SPLC as a whole holds them as well). The problems are as follows: 1. I could not find any verification that Beirich made this statement, nor any instance of this statement before being published on Americasvoice 2. Even there was verification that Beirich made this statement, this is still the opinion of one person

Even if the current line directly quoted the relevant section from politifact, (*"Heidi Beitish, director of SPLC's ..."*) with a complementary citation from the americasvoice.org, that would be a more open and honest entry. Taking a line from an article which took a line from a blog which took a line from an unverified source- is not.

When it comes to statements that Beirich has actually made pursuant to Tanton and his connection to WN:

"The CIS is part of a network of closely related anti-immigrant groups founded by John Tanton, who spent decades at the heart of the white nationalist movement and ran a publishing house, the Social Compact Press, that published numerous racist tracts."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/does-the-center-for-immigration-studies-deserve-to-be-labeled-a-hate-group/2017/03/24/89ab4cda-0f38-11e7-aa57-2ca1b05c41b8_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5c8d5e05696e

"John Tanton has not merely flirted with and adopted many of the core ideas of white nationalism over the past three decades. He has carried on correspondences with some of the key leaders of the white nationalist movement, meeting and even vacationing with some of them, and pushing many of their central ideas."

https://www.splcenter.org/20090131/nativist-lobby-three-faces-intolerance

That too would make for a more honest and direct quote, and will be replace the current citation accordingly. That said, the SPLC in general and Beirich in specific took and take great care in not implication Tanton of not being a White Nationalist- but of holding "core ideas of white nationalism", and "correspondences with some of the key leaders of the white nationalist movement". Any dialogue regarding this matter is appreciated.

24.184.182.219 (talk) 19:30, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Update: the current article has been gutted and is being being worked on by editors, the relevant portion having since been deleted. That said, if it is to be readded, I would like for it to read as follows:

Center for Immigration Studies Appearance
In August, 2018, Cissna drew protests when he spoke at an event organized by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). CIS is a non-profit which advocates restricting immigration, co-founded by John Tanton who has been described by the SPLC as having "flirted with and adopted many of the core ideas of white nationalism" and having "carried on correspondences with some of the key leaders of the white nationalist movement".

A quick look at the edit history for the article shows controversy, partisan and ideological biases, and the veracity of reports all playing a part in the mess that it became. I suggest that the discussion page be used to lay out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to this article's editing and presentation.

24.184.182.219 (talk) 19:48, 24 September 2018 (UTC)


 * There were a lot of issues with this content and I removed most of it. There was a mess of WP:SYNTH and WP:NPOV issues. Thanks for pointing out these issues. Marquardtika (talk) 19:50, 24 September 2018 (UTC)