Booth Newspapers
MLive Media Group, originally known as Booth Newspapers, or Booth Michigan, is a media group that produces newspapers in the state of Michigan. Founded by George Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold to Advance Publication ...
and an environment-beat newspaper reporter, formerly with ''
The Grand Rapids Press
''The Grand Rapids Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is the largest of the eight Booth newspapers. It is sold for $1.50 daily and $7.99 on Sunday.
AccuWeather provides weather content to the ''Grand Rapids ...
'' and ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer
''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, al ...
''. Beck was also the Washington, DC editor of
John Tanton
John Hamilton Tanton (February 23, 1934 – July 16, 2019) was an American ophthalmologist, white nationalist and anti-immigration activist. He was the founder and first chairman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti- ...
's
white nationalist
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
School of Journalism. He was raised in
Marshfield, Missouri
Marshfield is a city in Missouri and the county seat of Webster County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,633. As of the 2020 census, Marshfield had a population of 7,458. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri, Metro ...
and delivered milk and collected cans for pocket money in his youth. During the late 1960s, Beck worked at ''The Grand Rapids Press'' and ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' as an environmental journalist. He has claimed that the consequences of population growth on natural resources which became a concern during the 1960s environmental movement led to his interest in immigration. Beck worked as the Washington editor of Social Contract Press, which has been designated as a
hate group
A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society. Acc ...
by the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
.
He left journalism during the 1990s and founded NumbersUSA. Beck has gained notable attention in 1996 via a disputed Immigration, Poverty and Gumballs ', BS King, ''Graph Paper Diaries'', January 21, 2016. Immigration, Poverty and Gumballs Part 2: The Amazing World of Gumball ', BS King, ''Graph Paper Diaries'', February 22, 2017. presentation recorded on a VHS tape where he used gumballs to show that immigration to the United States did not alleviate world poverty, because so many remained impoverished outside of the United States. The conclusion was that the United States should restrict immigration more and help the impoverished where they are, instead of allowing them to migrate to richer countries.
David R. Henderson
David Richard Henderson (born November 21, 1950) is a Canadian-born American economist and author who moved to the United States in 1972 and became a U.S. citizen in 1986, serving on President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers from 19 ...
, an economist at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, noted that Beck makes it seem as if allowing immigration is done at a cost to Americans, but that is not what research on the issue indicates. That same year, Beck authored the book ''The Case Against Immigration'' which was released in the lead-up to the 1996 elections in the United States.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' credited Beck's NumbersUSA organization with applying enough pressure to U.S. Senators to defeat a comprehensive immigration bill in June 2007. He has been described as a "tutor" for U.S. Representative
Tom Tancredo
Thomas Gerard Tancredo (; born December 20, 1945) is an American politician from Colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009 as a Republican. He ran for Pres ...
on immigration issues. According to ''The Washington Post'', Beck had "been marginalized in Washington as an eccentric figure." He released ''Back of the Hiring Line'' in 2021 which focused on if American institutions owe U.S. citizens.