In the period of the Donald Trump presidency, it is disturbingly clear that anti-immigrant politics are a conduit for white nationalism to gain a foot in the highest halls of government. Recent revelations about top Trump aide Stephen Miller’s distribution of white nationalist literature should lay that discussion to rest.
In a recent local example of this trend, Fredericks County, Maryland Sheriff Charles A. “Chuck” Jenkins appeared October 20th as a guest speaker at the annual Social Contract Press Writers Workshop in Washington D.C.
The Social Contract Press is a Petosky, Michigan-based magazine that features anti-immigrant writers alongside authors such as white nationalist Peter Brimelow of VDARE and the late paleoconservative racist Sam Francis. Social Contract was formerly edited by John Tanton and now by Wayne Lutton.
John Tanton, the late founder of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), was a notorious racist who once wrote, “I’ve come to the point of view that for European American society and culture to persist requires a European American majority, and a clear one at that.”
For his part, Wayne Lutton (using the name Charles Lutton) was a onetime editorial board member of the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review (IHR). As IREHR’s Leonard Zeskind describes in Blood and Politics, Lutton was characterized in 1991 as an “ardent Revisionist” by IHR’s staff editor – the term IHR uses instead of Holocaust denier. Befitting such credentials, Lutton appeared at events hosted by the white nationalist group American Renaissance in 1994 and 1996; served as a senior fellow at the white nationalist National Policy Institute; and joined American Renaissance’s Jared Taylor as an editor for the Citizen Informer, the publication of the Council of Conservative Citizens.
Social Contract Press Editor Wayne Lutton
Noting the concern expressed in Jared Taylor’s 1992 book, Paved with Good Intentions, that the 1965 Immigration Act had led to an increase in non-white immigration to the U.S., Lutton concluded, “If enough of the right people read Paved With Good Intentions, an intelligent debate over what to do about ‘the great American dilemma’ may commence at last.”[1]
Sheriff Jenkins attended the Social Contact event to describe his department’s participation in the 287g program in which local law enforcement agencies cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to carry out federal immigration laws.[2]
Sheriff Jenkins made clear that he was at home among the Social Contract crowd, opening his presentation by declaring, “It’s an honor and a privilege to be here. I feel like I’m in friendly territory this morning for a change.” Jenkins April 2016 testimony before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security had appeared in Social Contract.[3]
Sheriff Jenkins offered his thoughts on immigration, also making clear that his views were compatible with the venue. Of Latin America, Jenkins declared that sexual assault is “part of that culture;” he inveighed those listening to support Donald Trump in “securing that border and the enforcement on the interior of this country;” and Jenkins warned that the “borders are in danger of total collapse,” which will lead to “hundreds of thousands, if not maybe tipping millions, coming into this country uncontrollable…from…Venezuela, Brazil and Belize.”[4]
Sheriff Jenkins’ fear of an immigrant flood from brown-skinned countries mirrors the depiction found in Jean Raspail’s 1973 book Camp of the Saints – a favorite of white nationalists and their fellow travelers, including Trump aide Stephen Miller. Not incidentally, Raspail wrote in Social Contract in 1993 that whites are endangered because “only seven hundred million of them…hardly a third of them in our little Europe…face a vanguard of four hundred million North Africans and Muslims…those on the opposite shores of the Mediterranean arriving ahead of the rest of the world!”[5]
Jenkin’s official biography boasts that “He was named by FOX News as ‘America’s second toughest Sheriff on illegal immigration,’ the first apparently being Arizona Sheriff Joe Arapaio. Arapaio was convicted of contempt of court in 2017 for violating a court order to end the racial profiling of Latinos. He was later pardoned by President Trump.[6]
Jenkin’s official biography states that he serves on the Immigration/Border Security Committee and a Homeland Security Sub-Committee of the National Sheriff’s Association.[7]
Social Contract press is not Sheriff Jenkins’ first flirtation with organized racist politics. Jenkins’ undertook a 2014 “fact-finding” trip to Texas funded by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.[8] Jenkins has also worked with Help Save Maryland, a FAIR-allied group that promotes anti-immigrant groups such as NumbersUSA and the Center for Immigration Studies.[9]
Jenkins’ policing practices apparently fit his ideology and alliances. In 2013 a federal appeals court ruled that Fredericks County deputies violated the 4th Amendment rights of a Salvadoran immigrant in 2008 when they arrested her based solely on an ICE civil warrant.[10] The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. On remand, a federal district court ruled that Sheriff Jenkins was liable for damages for the Constitutional violation because he had “promulgated a General Order” requiring officers to “detain any individual with an outstanding warrant, regardless of whether the warrant was civil or criminal.”[11]
Sheriff Jenkins was sued in July 2019 by the American Civil Liberties Union and Resources for Immigrant Support and Empowerment Coalition of Western Maryland. The lawsuit seeks to “stop unconstitutional policing against Latinx people” by Jenkin’s department.[12]
Sheriff Charles Jenkins’ appearance at a Social Contract Press event is a troubling reminder of the too-frequent blurring of boundaries between public office and white nationalism in the U.S. today. We must remain vigilant in exposing any and all such budding alliances.
[1] Lutton, Wayne. Books Briefly Mentioned. The Social Contract Press. Vol. 3(2), Winter 1992-1993. Lutton wrote of white nationalist Jared Taylor’s Paved with Good Intentions: “As the author notes on the first page of his Introduction, a consequence of the 1965 Immigration Act has been ‘to add two more racial groups to the uneasy mix that, in the heady days of civil rights successes, seemed finally on the road to harmony…. Now 90 percent of all legal immigrants are nonwhite, and Asians and Hispanics have joined the American mix in large numbers. The U.S. has embarked on a policy of multiracial nation-building that is without precedent in the history of the world.’ If enough of the right people read Paved With Good Intentions, an intelligent debate over what to do about ‘the great American dilemma’ may commence at last.”
[2] American Immigration Council. The 287(g) Program: An Overview. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/287g-program-immigration. The law itself was part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
[3] Jenkins, Charles. The Menace of Criminal Alien Gangs. The Social Contract. Spring 2016, p.36-37.
[4] The Social Contract Press. Video: The 287g Program: An Effective Public Safety Partnership, by Sheriff Chuck Jenkins. https://www.thesocialcontract.com/video/tsc-writers-workshop-2019-jenkins.html. Several excerpts from Jenkins’ speech are note worthy:
- Jenkins noted that his department saw “a lot of sexual assaults of young females, again, by people from other countries, Latin America, because folks listen as much as people don’t want to admit, that’s a part of that culture of the world. Nobody wants to admit that, and I get railed every day for saying that, but it’s the truth.”
- “We’ve got to support this President. Folks…If there’s nothing else you like about this man, and there are many things not to, maybe. I happen to like him. Support him a thousand percent. The one single thing we need to do is support him in securing that border and the enforcement on the interior of this country.”
- Jenkins noted that a border control officer told him that “Right now our borders are in danger of total collapse. And when that happens, you’re gonna see mass migrations, of thousands, of hundreds of thousands, if not maybe tipping millions, coming into this country uncontrollable. Every single country that these folks are coming from, including Venezuela, Brazil and Belize, if you look it up, they’re the most violent murderous countries on the face of the planet. Do we want that here? I say no we don’t.”
[5] Raspail, Jean. The Camp of the Saints. Vol 4(2), Social Contract. Winter 1993-1994. Raspail wrote: “To go back to the action in Camp of the Saints…everything takes place within three days along the shores of Southern France, and it is there that the destiny of white people is sealed…It’s enough to go back to the scary demographic predictions for the next thirty years, and those I will cite are the most favorable ones encircled by seven billion people, only seven hundred million of them white, hardly a third of them in our little Europe, and those no longer in bloom but quite old. They face a vanguard of four hundred million North Africans and Muslims, fifty percent of them less than twenty years old, those on the opposite shores of the Mediterranean arriving ahead of the rest of the world! Can one imagine for a second, in the name of whatever ostrich-like blindness, that such a disequilibrium can endure?”
[6] American Civil Liberties Union. Ortega Melendes, et al. v. Arapaio, et al. September 13, 2017. https://www.aclu.org/cases/ortega-melendres-et-al-v-arpaio-et-al; Chappel, Bill. Federal Judge Will Not Void Guilty Ruling, Despite Trump’s Pardon. CNN. October 20, 2017. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/20/558978896/federal-judge-will-not-void-guilty-ruling-on-arpaio-despite-trumps-pardon.
[7] Frederick County Maryland. Sheriff Chuck Jenkins. https://frederickcountymd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/277703/Sheriff-Jenkins-Bio.
[8] Toohey, Grace. Sheriff’s trip funded by alleged anti-immigrant hate group. The Frederick News-Post. July 16, 2014. https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/elections/sheriff-s-trip-funded-by-alleged-anti-immigrant-hate-group/article_a6723cb9-29fe-5481-aff5-28f627c50b0b.html.
[9] See Help Save Maryland. Frederick County Event with Sheriff Jenkins and Esteemed Guests. September 17, 2019. https://www.helpsavemaryland.org/?p=6299; Help Save Maryland. Help Save Maryland News Alert! – Coming Soon – Frederick County Sheriff, Chuck Jenkins Facebook Live with Help Save Maryland. July 29, 2017; Irgang, Tina. Anti-Illegal-Immigration Group Draws Controversy. Southern Maryland Online. November 1, 2009. http://somd.com/news/headlines/2009/10727.php; The Dysfunction of Maryland Politics. Help Save Maryland-Hagerstown Event A Success! Frederick Sheriff Jenkins a Hero. July 24, 2010. https://cecilcalvert.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/help-save-maryland-hagerstown-event-a-success-frederick-sheriff-jenkins-a-hero/.
[10] See United States Court of Appeals, Fourth District. Santos v. Frederick County Board of Commissioners. 725 F3d. August 7, 2013.
[11] See United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Santos v. Frederick County Board of Commissioners. 346 F. Supp. 3d. 785. September 27, 2018.
[12] American Civil Liberties Union. Frederick Residents Challenge Unconstitutional Policing of Latinx People by Sheriff Chuck Jenkins. July 11, 2019. https://www.aclu-md.org/en/press-releases/frederick-residents-challenge-unconstitutional-policing-latinx-people-sheriff-chuck.
