Michigan founder of anti-immigration movement John Tanton dead at 85

Jul. 18--ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Anti-immigration activist John Tanton, who sought to end illegal immigration and set a ceiling on legal immigration, died in Petoskey on Tuesday, July 16, after a 16-year battle with Parkinson's disease, according to his obituary.

He was 85.

Tanton founded the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in 1979, serving as its chairman. He also held leadership positions as president of Zero Population Growth, chairman of the Sierra Club's National Population Committee, founder of Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood Association and has been active in Negative Population Growth, Inc.

Born in Detroit in 1934 before later living in Petoskey, Tanton earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in 1956, later earning two master's degrees in ophthalmology, both from the University of Michigan, according to the Bentley Historical Library.

FAIR President Dan Stein called Tanton a "person with extraordinary persistence in promoting ideas based on a careful analysis of how today's decisions affect the future," in a statement on FAIR's website.

"In so many ways, John exemplified what it means to be a citizen of a free country," Stein said. "The relentless need to inquire, to understand, to shape and guide -- all in the service of the greater public good.

Criticized for his role in anti-immigration organizations later in his life as the issue of immigration became a focal point in U.S. politics, Stein said Tanton was a "victim to his unanticipated success."

"Perhaps John never appreciated fully at the outset how public would be the recognition of his work, nor how unfairly those who feared him would seek to destroy his legacy," Stein said.

Immigration lawyer Greg Siskind said Thursday he believes history will not treat Tanton's legacy kindly.

"Most of the horrible ideas on immigration being implemented today originate from groups this man founded," Siskind said.

Tanton's role in promoting anti-immigration reform has been the subject of a lawsuit against UM in recent years. Immigration attorney Hassan Ahmad of the Virginia-based HMA law firm had sought documents donated by Tanton to the Bentley library, which consist of materials documenting Tanton's work as a political and environmental activist from 1960 through the 1990s.

Ahmad brought the complaint against UM under a Freedom of Information Act request, seeking access to 10 of the 25 boxes of papers that had been sealed off at Tanton's request. After the Court of Claims initially ruled against Ahmad in 2017, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel recently ruled the papers should be public record.

"Tanton's role in the current cruelty fest cannot be overstated," Ahmad said on social media Thursday. "Most people don't get what a central role he played. We busy ourselves with the important work of putting out fires, but Tanton was a flamethrower."

In 1975, Tanton authored an essay "International Migration," the earliest formal record of his thoughts on immigration reform.

In the essay, Tanton argued it was time to take a fresh look at international migration and focus on slowing economic growth of developed nations, rather than stimulate it. In turn, Tanton argued it was necessary to promote economic growth in less developed countries.

"Current migration policy pushes both considerations in the wrong direction, and stimulates overall population growth as well," Tanton wrote. "As certain portions of the globe deal with their problems more effectively than others, they will stabilize more quickly."

Tanton wrote that the question was not whether migration should be restricted, as it long has been across the globe, but rather what restrictions are appropriate for today's world.

"Re-examination of this question is made easier by the realization that current limits are arbitrary in their origins," Tanton wrote. "Many were set decades ago without consideration of population, resource, environmental, and other facts that can and should be taken into account today."

In addition to anti-immigration causes, Tanton, a retired ophthalmologist, also championed various conservative political causes as the co-founder of the American Alliance for Rights and Responsibilities as a counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, according to Bentley records.

He also held positions with a number of environmental groups like the Sierra Club, Wilderness and Natural Areas Advisory Board, Michigan Natural Areas Council and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Advisory Commission, bringing legal action to prevent development of wilderness areas.

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