Groups promoting restrictions on illegal immigration are pairing with racist and anti-Semitic hate groups to promote a xenophobic agenda, the Anti-Defamation League alleged yesterday.

The recent “Minuteman Project,” which organized vigilante patrols of the Southwest border in April, attracted many white supremacists, according to the ADL.

The neo-Nazi group National Alliance circulated fliers throughout southern Arizona describing illegal immigration as an “invasion,” and Aryan Nation called the Minuteman Project, “a call for action on the part of ALL ARYAN SOLDIERS.” At a follow-up rally in Las Vegas last month, a founder of the project, Jim Gilchrist, claimed his group was not racist, but referred to immigrants as the “Mexican Klan” and “Nazis,” the ADL said.

The Anti-Defamation League said such comments were co-opting the immigration debate and provoking racist actions. “While there are legitimate concerns for America regarding illegal immigration, the fact that border vigilantes, and in some instances racist and anti-Semitic hate groups, are exploiting these concerns to promote an anti-Hispanic agenda is very troubling,” the director of the ADL, Abraham Foxman, said.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado and chairman of the immigration reform caucus, said the accusations are “completely inaccurate.”

Mr. Tancredo, who spoke at the Las Vegas congress and is a supporter of the Minuteman Project, said the first mistake is calling the groups anti-immigrant, as the ADL did in a press release yesterday, instead of calling them anti-illegal immigration.

“There is, to the best of my knowledge, no formal or even informal process to try and attach any of these groups together,” Mr. Tancredo said. “I have never seen that. I have never.”

Officials from the Minuteman Project did not immediately return a request for comment, but a statement on their Web site said: “The topic of illegal immigration is not about race, it is about breaking the law. When a foreign national crosses our borders or overstays a visa, it is against the law, and the lawbreaker is in fact an illegal alien. It does not matter whether the illegal alien is green, blue, or purple; the issue is one of law enforcement, not race.”

Still, the groups have drawn heavy criticism from the Hispanic community.

Outside of the Las Vegas gathering, about 200 Hispanic protesters chanted “Racists go home” and waved American and Mexican flags, according to the Associated Press.

The Las Vegas-based Wake Up America Foundation, whose motto is “It’s your country, take it back,” sponsored the summit.