Seeking to deflect charges of racism, anti-immigration activists have launched a cynical campaign to recruit environmentalists to their cause by blaming immigrants for urban sprawl, overconsumption and a host of other environmental problems, according to a report issued today by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Forty years ago this month, Morris Dees won a lawsuit that desegregated the Montgomery, Alabama, YMCA and laid the foundation for the Southern Poverty Law Center.