Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

UPDATE: After the publication of this post, Diane Harkey removed the San Diegans for Secure Borders' endorsement from her website.

Republican congressional candidate Diane Harkey touts an endorsement on her website from San Diegans for Secure Borders (SDSB), an anti-immigrant group that promotes white nationalist propaganda and attacks Latino and Muslim immigrants as foreign invaders.

Harkey, who is the chairwoman of the State Board of Equalization in California, is running to replace retiring Republican Rep. Darrell Issa. President Donald Trump endorsed Harkey in August.

Anti-immigrant writer Jeff Schwilk heads SDSB. He previously led the San Diego Minutemen, which, according to a 2007 Southern Poverty Law Center report, physically intimidated migrants and called them racist slurs. In 2009, a jury ordered Schwilk to pay $135,000 for defaming an Asian-American immigration activist with racist and derogatory remarks; Schwilk reportedly said of the activist, among other comments: “She is Korean. She looks anorexic, and she dresses and looks like a slut.”

San Diegans for Secure Borders also regularly traffics in bigotry. A Media Matters review of its Facebook page found that the Harkey-backing group:

• posted anti-immigrant propaganda from VDare, a leading white nationalist website, in at least 14 instances. The SDSB-linked pieces include white nationalist propaganda and a piece written by an author who has described himself as a “mild and tolerant” "racist”;
• attacked undocumented Latino immigrants as foreign invaders and claimed Mexico wants "to control [California] again through mass occupation, and they are. Latinos (mostly Mexicans) are now the dominant 'race' in California”; and
• claimed that there's a Muslim “invasion” in California and Muslim candidates could bring “Sharia Law in our Congress.”

SDSB heavily promotes VDare, a notorious white nationalist publication

VDare is a white nationalist site run by Peter Brimelow that’s dedicated to smearing immigrants. It has published numerous prominent racists, including anti-Semite Kevin MacDonald, white nationalist Jared Taylor, and Charlottesville, VA, white nationalist rally leader Jason Kessler.

White House economics adviser Larry Kudlow recently had to distance himself from Brimelow after The Washington Post reported that the VDare head attended “a birthday bash for Kudlow, one day after a White House speechwriter was dismissed in the wake of revelations that he had spoken alongside Brimelow on a 2016 panel.”

SDSB’s Facebook page has promoted content from VDare on at least 14 occasions (1/7/13; 2/25/13; 2/26/13; 3/23/13; 6/13/15; 11/21/15; 5/14/16; 5/26/16; 2/14/17; 2/27/17; 5/22/17; 11/20/17; 11/27/17; 8/13/18).

VDare itself has promoted SDSB’s efforts, writing in March 2013: “There's a new coalition in California, fighting for immigration enforcement and against amnesty. It's called the ‘San Diegans for Secure Borders Coalition.’ … You might check the coalition out, especially if you reside in the San Diego area.” SDSB responded by writing: “Nice little plug from VDARE. And we're just getting started.”

The SDSB-promoted VDare articles unsurprisingly feature white nationalist tropes. For instance:

• VDare writer Allan Wall wrote in a November 18, 2017, piece that Democratic Senate candidate and state Sen. Kevin de León is “quite likely an anchor baby. His mother was definitely illegal and probably his father as well. … If Kevin de León goes to the Senate, he will bring his California-style illegal alien Reconquista agenda there.” He added regarding immigration: “There is no compromise on these basic issues. Either we fight to protect American sovereignty -- or we will be replaced.”
• Wall claimed in an August 12 piece that “Mexicans meddle culturally, politically, diplomatically and demographically. They constantly work to win or maintain the loyalty of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the United States.”
• John Derbyshire, a self-described “mild and tolerant” “racist” who was fired from National Review after he said that he advised his children to avoid Black people, complained about Haitians living in the United States on temporary protected status (TPS) in a November 25, 2017, piece. He wrote that Haiti, after its 2010 earthquake, is “still a godforsaken slum. That's a consequence of its very low levels of human capital, though; and that's not the fault of Americans, or of anyone other than Mother Nature. Why are we supposed to pay for other countries' godforsakenness?” He added of the prospect of Haitians becoming American citizens: “Note, ominously, that those 60,000 Haitian recipients of TPS have, during their eight years in our country, brought forth around 30,000 children -- all of them, thanks to our insane policy of birthright citizenship, U.S. citizens.”

SDSB portrays undocumented immigration as a “hostile invasion from Mexico”

SDSB has repeatedly attacked undocumented immigrants from Mexico as foreign invaders. Here are several examples:

• SDSB wrote on August 10, 2013, regarding a story headlined, “Judicial Watch Goes to Court Monday to End Los Angeles Illegal Immigration Sanctuary Policy”: “Good Americans are still fighting the hostile invasion from Mexico.”
• SDSB wrote on May 14, 2016: “Mexican Government in a full panic over impending Trump presidency! They know Trump is dead serious about stopping the invasion of criminals and unwanted peasants from Mexico!”
• SDSB wrote on July 25, 2017: “NCLR (La Raza) changes its name, but is still a racist Mexican front group and anti-American, anti-white hate group. Thank God their Reconquista is dying. Send that Mexican hate back to Mexico where it belongs!"
• SDSB wrote on September 21, 2017: “Illegal immigration is more than just jobs; its (sic) about foreign occupation of our country by millions of Mexican citizens and loyalists. Wake up, America, we are at war!”
• SDSB wrote on December 19, 2017, about a report that “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer have a desk at the Monterey County Jail”: “Here we go! Mexican Reconquista on steroids in Mexifornia now. Adios Golden State.”

Schwilk has attacked Democratic politician Kevin de León as a “lawless illegal alien powerful politician” who is a “dangerous foreign agent.” The group also called de León “an anchor baby illegal alien” who “works with and for the Mexican Government to help them make California a Mexican state again (La Reconquista)”:

De Leon is an anchor baby illegal alien from Los Angeles / Tijuana / Barrio Logan, San Diego (home of Chicano Park) and works with and for the Mexican Government to help them make California a Mexican state again (La Reconquista). Mexico briefly controlled California in the early 1800’s for 27 years. They want to control it again through mass occupation, and they are. Latinos (mostly Mexicans) are now the dominant “race” in California.

In response to a commenter who said that “for the most part it's true if you vote for a Latino they will protect Illegals before they protect citizens,” the group wrote: “Most but not all. SgtMaj [and California Republican congressional candidate] Juan Hidalgo is a true American patriot.”

SBSB is virulently anti-Muslim

SBSB frequently attacks Muslims. The group has claimed that there’s a supposed “muslim and illegal alien invasion in San Diego and California.”

In 2016, it complained of President Barack Obama’s purported “massive unvetted Muslim refugee dumping in San Diego.” In February, the group shared a post from the Facebook page San Diegans against Islamic Sharia Law that began: “Best news in years! Muslim refugee arrivals down 96% in San Diego County in FY18!” 

The group has also attacked political candidates because they're Muslim. The group wrote, “In case [Republican congressional candidate] Omar Qudrat or any of the other 3 Muslim candidates running for office in San Diego make it past the Primary on Tuesday. Hold them accountable!” and then linked to an article by anti-Muslim writer Bill Warner stating that people should ask Muslim political candidates “well crafted questions about Sharia.”

SBSB also posted a link to a HuffPost article reporting that “a handful of candidates running for office in 2018 could soon become the first Muslim woman (or women) to ever serve in U.S. Congress,” commenting: “How do you feel about Sharia Law in our Congress?” 

In a radio interview, Schwilk falsely claimed that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.”