NEW YORK (EJP)—In an annual rite of spring, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups across the United States are planning to hold events to commemorate the April 20 birthday of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Racist rallies, marches, cookouts and other events are to be hold in Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland, Houston and Morganton.

“There is always a concern when the extremist groups use a calendar event as a rallying point to recruit members and to promote anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL’s national director.

“Hitler’s birthday has a special resonance for extremists, not only because of what Adolf Hitler represents, but because there have been violent and deadly attacks directly associated with this date in the past. It is especially troubling since Hitler’s birthday falls on the first day of Passover this year.”

One of the events on April 19 is being billed as an “anti-immigrant rally.”

Members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, who are known for dressing in Nazi uniforms and making Nazi salutes, are planning an April 19 rally and march “against illegal immigration.”

Anti-immigrant and particularly anti-Hispanic rhetoric have become one of the calling cards of white supremacist groups in recent years which has issued reports on how extremist groups have used the national debate over immigration to recruit new members.

In Chicago the neo-Nazi American National Socialist Workers Party has scheduled a gathering in honor of Hitler’s birthday featuring various “pro-white” speakers, including a former German SS officer.