Those tireless crusaders for racism are back. But this isn't your father's Ku Klux Klan.
Sputtering and losing relevance at the turn of the millennium, the Klan has climbed up off the mat with a hate makeover. No longer content with directing its vitriol at blacks and Jews, the extremist group is now zeroing in on an issue making national waves: immigration.
"If any one single issue or trend can be credited with re-energizing the Klan, it is the debate over immigration in America," Deborah A. Lauter, director of civil rights for the Anti-Defamation League, wrote in a report on the group's resurrection that was released last week.
The Midwest is one of the group's new hubs. Indiana, Michigan and Ohio were all identified by the ADL as states where local chapters -- known as klaverns -- are sprouting with increasing frequency. But not Illinois.
"I don't think there's a charismatic leader in Illinois that has really emerged. That doesn't mean there will not be," said Adam Schupack, the associate director of the ADL's Upper Midwest office in Chicago.
Despite lacking a figurehead to unite them, the Klan maintains a presence in Illinois. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that monitors hate groups, lists a Klan chapter in Chicago. As recently as 2004, the Brotherhood of Klans kept its headquarters in the northwest suburb of Prospect Heights, where its leader, the now-deceased Dale Fox, ran a day care center.
Lauter said the Klan's resurgence can be traced to its ability to capitalize on Americans' fear that a swelling immigrant population will steal jobs, deplete resources or taint America's community and moral values.
Border security and immigration are among the hottest issues in the country. An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants are now living in America, and national legislation reflects the rising concern. Stiff immigration reform bills were circulated in Congress in 2006.
"(The Klan) sees (immigration) as a wedge issue," Schupack said. "They're trying to inject themselves into what is a legitimate debate over immigration."
