Protests Planned As 'Hate Group' Speaker Comes To Lewis & Clark

A student-run symposium closes its doors to the public for a speaker slammed for spreading fear about Latinos

An Oregonians for Immigration Reform meeting in 2014. (James Rexroad)
By Corey Pein

A representative of a think tank labeled a hate group will face protests at a scheduled appearance tonight at Lewis & Clark College.

Jessica Vaughn, policy director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, which the country's leading hate crimes watchdog, the Southern Poverty Law Center, describes as "a nativist think tank that churns out a constant stream of fear-mongering misinformation about Latino immigrants."

Vaughn comes to Portland fresh from another protest-packed visit to Salem, where she spoke at the invitation of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, another right-wing anti-immigrant group featured in a 2014 WW cover story.

Lewis & Clark will host Vaughn at its annual International Affairs Symposium, described as "one of the most prestigious events within the Oregon academic and civic communities," and "organized entirely by students."

The activist group Portland's Resistance—whose organizer, Gregory McKelvey, attends Lewis & Clark's law school—is organizing a demonstration outside tonight's symposium.

"While other events in this series are open to the public, this specific talk has been closed off to exclusive invitees," Portland's Resistance says on a Facebook page for the protest. "While we would prefer that Vaughan be disinvited for her hate speech and her pay be donated to immigrants right groups, until that occurs we are calling for the community to peacefully protest outside of the event."

Lewis & Clark ethnic studies professor Elliott Young also criticized the symposium organizer's decision to close Vaughn's session to the public, noting the "truly bizarre" choice to create the equivalent of a "safe space" for hate.

"I have encouraged my students and colleagues to come to the session armed with data and arguments not Molotov cocktails," Young wrote on a Huffington Post blog.

Vaughn is also a blogger and writer for the National Review, and she frequently posts in support of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and against sanctuary cities such as Portland.

On Monday, she criticized Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese for his public support for state and local sanctuary policies.

Update 6:12 pm: Lewis & Clark supplied the following statement:

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