In a major development, Numbers USA, the anti-immigrant group, has mobilized to stop the Irish E3 visa bill passing through the senate.

The organization sent an email to its one million plus membership on Thursday targeting the Irish visa bill. Their actions came after both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald reported that Senator Scott Brown had stated that he was close to getting the Irish visa bill through the senate.

The bill would allow up to 10,500 non immigrant visas a year from Ireland. It is based on similar legislation that allows similar amounts of Australian visas.

Numbers USA is one of the largest anti-immigrant groups and claims over one million members. They urged their members to write to their senators.

The suggested copy they sent reads:“We don't support bills that increase foreign workers, particularly those that favor one nationality over another. That's what Sen. Brown's E-3 visa bill is and we hope you will oppose it.

“The U.S. isn't expected to reach full employment again for a number of years. We need more jobs, not more workers. Nevertheless, Sen. Brown's bill would increase legal immigration by 10,500 visas every year.

“Sen. Brown's bill is just for Irish workers, no other group would be eligible. There is no justification for this kind of favoritism either.

“Sen. Brown's bill is a perfect example of how our immigration system rarely considers labor market situations. Rather, it is used by selfish politicians as a special give away to special interest groups.

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Numbers USA is a controversial organization that has been accused of having racist roots.

The Southern  Poverty Law Center stated “Numbers USA is...part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the “puppeteer” of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots...Tanton has for decades been at the heart of the white nationalist scene.

He has met with leading white supremacists, promoted anti-Semitic ideas, and associated closely with the leaders of a eugenicist foundation once described by a leading newspaper as a “neo-Nazi organization.

”He has made a series of racist statements about Latinos and worried that they were outbreeding whites. At one point, he wrote candidly that to maintain American culture, “a European-American majority” is required.”

Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, and a close associate of Tanton, told the Boston Globe that the Irish are “basically upset because they don’t have the special privileges that they once had.”

“They have to share those privileges with Latinos and Africans and Asians.”