A group organizing a May 1 “May Day” rally in favor of “immigrant rights” in Lafayette Park in front of the White House is financially supported by the Catholic Church, Big Business, the federal government, and various Maryland governmental entities.

It is anticipated that the demonstration will take the form of opposition to Arizona’s new law that is designed to discourage illegal immigration.

The buses will leave for Lafayette Park from CASA de Maryland centers starting at 12:30, with the rally scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

So-called “May Day actions” are being planned in dozens of cities around the U.S.

CASA de Maryland, an illegal alien support group, is sponsoring the buses that will take hundreds of protesters to the event in the nation’s capital. CASA is considered the biggest promoter and facilitator of illegal aliens in Maryland.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and its Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which got caught funding the radical group ACORN, are listed on the CASA website as being among its many financial donors and supporters. 

Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, issued a statement April 27 “in solidarity with the Catholic bishops of Arizona” opposing the enactment and implementation of the Arizona law.

Wester said, “The U.S. Catholic bishops stand in solidarity with the bishops of Arizona in opposing this draconian law. We call upon the Administration to review its impact on civil rights and liberties.  We renew our call for the Administration and Congress to work in a bipartisan manner to enact comprehensive immigration reform as soon as possible.”

The Bishops have made it clear that such “comprehensive” reform must include amnesty for illegal aliens as its central component.  Many of these aliens are Catholics from Latin America.

CASA de Maryland’s Facebook page denounces the new Arizona immigration law and highlights opposition to the measure by Meghan McCain, daughter of Arizona Republican Senator John McCain.

CASA de Maryland created a major controversy by distributing an eight-page book telling illegal aliens how to avoid law enforcement authorities. The CASA book, Know Your Rights (PDF) tells illegal aliens not to carry “any documents from your country of origin” and that “providing your name” to a police officer “has risks” because “your name can be used to start a deportation process.” It flatly says, “Don’t provide government officials information about your immigration status.”

“Only in America can groups like CASA and their illegal alien criminal clientele use tax dollars to lobby for amnesty and equal rights, all to the detriment of the American people and our way of life,” commented Brad Botwin of Help Save Maryland.

Help Save Maryland is a multi-ethnic, grass-roots, non-partisan organization with thousands of members across the state. “We are opposed to the use of tax dollars on programs that attract and sustain illegal aliens to Maryland,” Botwin explained.

Under the category of “Government,” CASA lists the following entities as financial donors:

• Baltimore City Council
• City of Baltimore Mayor’s Office
• City of Takoma Park
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Maryland AIDS Administration
• Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund
• Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
• Maryland State Legislature
• Mid-County Regional Services Center-Montgomery County
• Up-County Regional Services Center-Montgomery County
• Montgomery County Council
• Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services
• Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs
• Montgomery County Office of the County Executive
• Montgomery County Public Schools
• Prince George’s County Council
• Prince George’s County Council Special Appropriations Funds (Councilmember Thomas E. Dernoga)
• Prince George’s Department of Housing and Community Development
• Prince George’s County Office of the County Executive
• Redevelopment Authority of Prince George’s County
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The event in D.C. is being supported by United for Peace and Justice, a far-left organization which argues that “peace activists” must “join hand-in-hand and march with immigrants to fight for their rights and an end to the militarization of our communities.”

The group explains that, “With the recent passage of Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB 1070 bill, many immigrants and activists are comparing this to the rebirth of Jim Crow and racial profiling. We have also seen an increase in the militarization of local police forces and of our borders in another racist effort to divide our country.”

It’s not just the taxpayer-funded entities supporting CASA that have earned Botwin’s ire. He drew attention to the financial support given to CASA by the Catholic Church. In addition to the Catholic Bishops and the CCHD, the CASA web site identifies its donors as including the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The CCHD reports $30,000 in 2007 and $10,000 in 2006 given to CASA for “workers’ rights.”  More recent data is not available.

Other churches and religious organizations supporting CASA include the Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, the Foundry United Methodist Church, and Quaker groups.

In the area of Big Business, foundations, and organizations, financial supporters include the George Soros-funded Open Society Institute, the American Petroleum Institute, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the Bank of America Foundation, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, the Bechtel Foundation, and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

In the past, Accuracy in Media has protested support given to CASA from the Philip L. Graham Fund, which is staffed by current and former officials of the Washington Post and includes Donald E. Graham, who also serves as CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Washington Post Company, as a trustee.

The Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation, which is named after the former owner and publisher of The Washington Post, is currently listed as a financial sponsor of CASA. The Foundation reports that it provided $405,000 to the group.

The Herb Block Foundation, named after the long-time Washington Post editorial cartoonist, is also a CASA sponsor. This foundation provided funds for one of several controversial “Day Laborer Centers” operated by CASA.

Help Save Maryland reports that Day Laborer Centers are “hiring sites supposedly created to deal with the problems caused by unskilled workers (largely illegal aliens) who congregate on street corners waiting for persons seeking laborers to drive by. In communities like Gaithersburg and Wheaton [Maryland], these informal hiring sites have caused traffic disturbances, and the lack of sanitary facilities has often led to public urination. Other common complaints include public drunkenness and sexual harassment of female pedestrians.”

Brad Botwin of Help Save Maryland says, “These same illegal alien day laborers, their families, gang members and others dependent on CASA for support will be a major portion of the crowd on May 1.”

He says CASA is usually portrayed by liberal newspapers such as the Washington Post as an “immigrants rights group,” while opponents of illegal immigration are typically described as “hate groups and nativists.”

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