Ann Corcoran (born 1950 or 1951) is an American blogger and political activist known for the anti-refugee and anti-Muslim blogs Refugee Resettlement Watch and Fraud, Crooks, and Criminals. [1] She has worked with several far-right organizations and publications. [1]
Early life
Corcoran had her upbringing as a Democrat in a small town in central New Jersey,[ specify] with an Irish father and a German mother. [2] She has a BS in wildlife biology from Rutgers University and an MS in environmental studies from Yale University. [2] She worked in Washington, D.C., as a lobbyist for the National Audubon Society from 1975 to 1980. [2] With her husband, she had two children of her own, and two adopted children from Vietnam. [2] In 1985, the family bought and moved to a farm near Hagerstown, Maryland. [2]
Views and activities
Corcoran's focus on Muslim immigration was sparked by plans to resettle refugees in her rural county in western Maryland, and she started her blog in 2007. [1] She has maintained that the Muslim concept of hijrah (migration) is a form of jihad to take over the Western world, and warned that the greatest threat to the United States is legal Muslim immigration. [1] She has stated that " Mohammed told his followers to migrate and spread Islam, in order to dominate all the lands of the world ... and that's exactly what they're doing now." [3]
In 2017, a YouTube video of her produced by the Center for Security Policy (CSP) went viral, receiving nearly 3 million views, in which she claimed that refugees are a Muslim plot to colonize the United States, asserting that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is "under the influence of a powerful Muslim supremacist group", the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). [3]
Corcoran has collaborated with Frank Gaffney and the CSP, [1] and ACT for America, [4] and been considered a part of the counter-jihad movement. [3] She has also been associated with white nationalist publications such as VDARE, Social Contract Press [1] and American Renaissance. [4] In 2015, she was cited as an "expert" by Donald Trump, [5] who was given a copy of her book [6] at a CSP national security summit in Iowa where the two briefly met. [2]
She has been accused by the Anti-Defamation League and others of promoting anti-Muslim conspiracy theories. [7] [8] [9] Her description of hijrah as an Islamic doctrine of immigration has previously been seen in the book Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration by Sam Solomon and Elias Al Maqdisi. [10]
Bibliography
- Refugee Resettlement and the Hijra to America. Center for Security Policy Press. 2015. ISBN 978-1508820703.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Factsheet: Ann Corcoran". Bridge Initiative. Georgetown University. February 16, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Goyette, Jared (April 1, 2016). "How an environmental lobbyist became an influential anti-refugee blogger". The World.
- ^ a b c Beauchamp, Zack (February 2, 2017). "A video claiming refugees are a Muslim plot to colonize America has nearly 3 million views". Vox.
- ^ a b "Lauded by Racist Groups, Refugee Resettlement Watch Founder Ann Corcoran Moves Further Right". Southern Poverty Law Center. July 13, 2015.
- ^ Beinart, Peter (November 29, 2017). "Trump's Anti-Muslim Political Strategy". The Atlantic.
- ^ Griswold, Eliza (January 20, 2016). "Why Is It So Difficult for Syrian Refugees to Get Into the U.S.?". The New York Times Magazine.
- ^ Dickrell, Stephanie (April 23, 2015). "Rhetoric professor analyzes refugee speaker". SC Times.
- ^ Hoffman, Meredith (July 13, 2015). "Why Are Republicans So Scared of Syrian Refugees?". Vice.
- ^ "Anti-Immigrant Groups Target Aid for Unaccompanied Minors". Anti-Defamation League. October 21, 2014.
- ^ Dickrell, Stephanie (April 23, 2015). "Fact-checking refugee resettlement activist". SC Times.
- Living people
- 1950s births
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American women writers
- Activists from Maryland
- American bloggers
- American critics of Islam
- American environmentalists
- American women activists
- American women bloggers
- American women environmentalists
- American women farmers
- American women non-fiction writers
- Anti-immigration politics in the United States
- Counter-jihad activists
- Farmers from Maryland
- People from New Jersey
- People from Washington, D.C.
- Rutgers University alumni
- Yale University alumni
- American people of Irish descent
- American people of German descent