Heritage analyst resigns after saying Hispanic immigrants have low IQs

Jason Richwine, co-author of a controversial immigration study and 2009 dissertation alleging that Hispanics are “low-IQ” immigrants, resigned from the Heritage Foundation on Friday amid a wave of criticism.

In a statement, Mike Gonzalez, vice president for communications at Heritage, told the Washington Examiner that Richwine was no longer with the conservative think tank, but did not offer further explanation. “It is our long-standing policy not to discuss internal personnel matters,” said Gonzalez.

Richwine co-wrote a report released by the Heritage Foundation Monday concluding that the latest bipartisan immigration bill would cost at least $6.3 trillion because of the likelihood that new citizens would be dependent on federal benefits. The report drew an immediate backlash from prominent conservatives, including Grover Norquist, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who tweeted that the study was “misleading and designed for headlines.”

By mid-week, the Washington Post had unearthed Richwine’s 2009 dissertation, in which he contended that “new Hispanic immigrants will have low-IQ children and grandchildren.” Richwine earned his PhD in public policy from Harvard that year. Richwine has also said that Latinos–unlike the Irish–are unable to assimilate.

Yahoo News reported Thursday that Richwine had also written two articles in 2010 for the website AlternativeRight.com, founded by self-described “nationalist” Richard Spencer. Richwine’s articles argued that Hispanics are incarcerated at a higher rate than whites.

The Heritage Foundation had already begun to distance itself from Richwine after his dissertation drew flak. “The Harvard paper is not a work product of The Heritage Foundation. Its findings do not reflect the positions of The Heritage Foundation or the conclusions of our study on the cost of amnesty to U.S. taxpayers, as race and ethnicity are not part of Heritage immigration policy recommendations,” said spokesman Gonzalez in his statement.