Some 15% of the Club's 750,000 members voted in April to reject a ballot initiative that would have moved the Club from a position of neutrality on American immigration policy to one that favors clamping down the borders.

At the same time, members voted down five anti-immigration candidates to the Club board. These candidates favored the same kind of policy change.

Both the ballot initiative and the anti-immigration board candidates were supported by SUSPS, which was formerly known as Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization but now goes by its acronym alone. Alan Kuper, a principal SUSPS founder, was one of the board candidates who lost by five-to-one margins.

"Sadly, none of the SUSPS candidates was elected and our ballot question lost badly," a despondent SUSPS E-mail reported in late April. The E-mail largely blamed MoveOn.org, a liberal organization that had worked against the anti-immigration candidates and ballot initiative.

Acting on a suggestion by anti-immigration maestro John Tanton, activists in 1998 tried to pass a similar ballot initiative but were beaten back. In 2004, a slate of anti-immigration activists made a strong run for the board, but were also defeated by 10-to-one margins after a bitter campaign. Intelligence Report Editor Mark Potok had written Club officials in late 2003 to warn them of a "hostile takeover attempt" by anti-immigration forces backed by a number of extremists.