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Jason Richwine, co-author of a controversial report from the Heritage Foundation that criticized the potential cost of immigration reform, has resigned from the organization. The resignation follows revelations that Richwine's college dissertation argued that Latinos (and other ethnic groups) were by nature intellectually inferior. Slate's Dave Weigel has a terse statement from the organization: "Jason Richwine let us know he’s decided to resign from his position. He’s no longer employed by Heritage."

Richwine's dissertation focused on differences in IQ scores and what they suggested for immigration policy. Mother Jones describes how he explained his findings at a public event in 2008:

"Race is different in all sorts of ways, and probably the most important way is in IQ," he said. "Decades of psychometric testing has indicated that at least in America, you have Jews with the highest average IQ, usually followed by East Asians, then you have non-Jewish whites, Hispanics, and then blacks. These are real differences, and they're not going to go away tomorrow, and for that reason we have to address them in our immigration discussions and our debates."

Revelations about Richwine's previous work put the Heritage Foundation in a serious quandary, one which it sought to resolve by potentially hiring a high-priced public relations firm. Yesterday, a spokesperson for Heritage defended Richwine's work on its behalf while distancing itself from any previous statements. The Heritage spokesperson said that Richwine was only a secondary "number-cruncher," and not the lead author who developed the methodology.