Drew Angerer/Getty Images employment and immigration Immigration advocates press to cut off charitable funds for anti-immigration groups

An immigration advocacy group is pressing corporate executives on the board of a Charlotte-based foundation to stop steering millions of dollars to groups working to reduce immigration.

The money has nurtured “hate groups,” Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration America’s Voice, said in a letter sent Tuesday, to the Foundation of the Carolinas, which provided more than $11 million to efforts to restrict immigration between 2014 and 2017, according to financial disclosure forms.


The foundation’s board includes executives from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Duke Energy and McKinsey & Company. Sharry called for board members to stop funding the anti-immigrant groups and to return money designated for those groups to the donors.

Michael Marsicano, president of the Foundation for the Carolinas, defended the organization’s approach in a written statement to POLITICO. The group, which administers more than 3,000 charitable funds set up by individuals and businesses, is required to disburse the money according to the wishes of the donors, he said. The foundation makes its own discretionary donations to pro-immigration causes, he said.

The America’s Voice letter comes amid growing scrutiny of companies that cooperate with President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdowns. More than 1,000 Google employees signed a petition in the past week that calls for the tech company to refuse to support federal immigration agencies “until they stop engaging in human rights abuses.” Separately, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo all have said this year that they would cut ties with private prisons amid protests over their use as immigration detention facilities.

Morning Shift newsletter Get the latest on employment and immigration, every weekday morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Among the corporate leaders on the board of the Foundation for the Carolinas are Catherine Bessant, chief operations and technology officer at Bank of America; Kendall Alley, Charlotte regional president at Wells Fargo; Lynn Good, chief executive officer of Duke Energy; and Fritz Nauck, a senior partner for McKinsey & Company.

The four board members did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Wells Fargo said that the funding to anti-immigration causes had been directed by the donor and not selected by the board. He added that the foundation “does not advocate for or against these organizations.”

The funding sources for groups opposing immigration are drawing attention as political tensions flare over Trump’s border policies. The New York Times published a profile last week that examined the motivations of Cordelia Scaife May, a wealthy heiress and environmentalist who funded organizations that have risen in prominence during the Trump presidency.

Scaife May died in 2005, but the organizations she backed — including the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA and the Center for Immigration Studies — continue to press for fewer immigrants. The three organizations also received funding from the Foundation for the Carolinas, according to the group’s financial statements.

The groups are aligned ideologically with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and several of their former employees now work in the Trump administration dealing with immigration policy.

FAIR Executive Director Bob Dane said in an email to POLITICO that federal laws only call for donor-advised funds like the Foundations for the Carolinas to ensure that money goes to qualified non-profit organizations. The law does not restrict the flow of funds “based on the mission of a non-profit organization itself,” he said.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, argued that his group’s efforts to cut legal and illegal immigration are an important cause and a good use of philanthropic dollars.

“Any foundation would be well served to fund NumbersUSA's work for moderate immigration levels,” he said in a written statement. Beck added that his group contributes to “a more fair economic playing field for populations traditionally left behind, especially the descendants of America's slavery system.”

Sharry and other immigration advocates contend the opposite.

“There can be no tolerance of anti-immigrant views,” Sharry wrote on Tuesday. “They are not only fueling violence, but also perpetuating policies that have left thousands of children jailed in awful conditions along our border and are undermining the fabric of American communities, including in the Carolinas.”

In the letter, Sharry criticized money administered by the foundation on behalf of Fred Stanback, a wealthy heir whose family made its fortune selling headache powder.

“Mr. Stanback has a long history of supporting groups and individuals who believe that immigrants are inherently inferior and that drastic steps are needed to control global population growth,” Sharry wrote.

Duke University removed several immigration restriction groups from a Stanback-established internship program in 2013 following a media inquiry. Stanback’s immigration-related donations also have raised questions for state Democratic lawmakers who have received money from him.

Stanback and the Center for Immigration Studies did not respond to requests for comment.

“Decisive action is needed now to disavow the foundation’s association with these hate groups,” Sharry wrote, “and ensure they don’t receive another dime to promote their hateful ideology.”