rssAre Illegal Immigrants to Blame for Climate Change?
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 5:44 pm
- 33 Comments
In the latest issue of The Nation, Andrew Ross looks into the strange allegiance between climate fears and nativism. It’s worth checking out the whole piece, but here’s a general summary: To win support for tougher border control, pro-enforcement groups such as Federation for American Immigration Reform and Center for Immigration Studies are making the argument that illegal immigration is bad for the environment.
The main argument by the groups is that immigration increases the population, which in turn creates urban sprawl, increases carbon emissions, and hurts open spaces, particularly near the border. With titles like CIS’s “The Environmental Argument for Reducing Immigration to the United States” and FAIR’s “How Immigration Hastens Destruction of the Environment,” both groups have extensive reports documenting these claims.
Most of the assertions are dubious at best, Ross reports. Suburban sprawl is generally populated with U.S. natives, and energy use is damaging not due to population size, but how it is produced and consumed.
Still, the effort to frame immigration enforcement around environmental concerns in an interesting one. Rather than building a border fence, Ross argues the key to dealing with these issues is through comprehensive immigration reform and a climate bill:
FAIR’s shadiness aside, there are real connections between clean energy policy and immigration reform—the two bullets Congress is trying its best to dodge. But they will be made only if we swear off single-issue politics and push for decriminalization and decarbonization at one and the same time.
The Environmental Argument for Reducing Immigration to the United States
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Comment posted August 12, 2010 @ 11:19 pm
I have clearly posted my views on the current illegal aliens issue, I am for strong reform now. No wonder we are losing our reputation with the world, please tell the above referenced organizations that they ( the immigrants) are breaking a man made law, not Mother Nature's. How does decriminalization and decarbonization become intertwined? We need single issue items, too much crap is buried in one size fits all pork bills.
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Comment posted August 13, 2010 @ 3:14 am
I am sorry, but the reasoning here fails me. I can't see any correlation. Most illegals I see walk or ride bikes…so how does that add to congestion? I think this stretches things way , way, too much!
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Comment posted August 13, 2010 @ 9:44 am
It's those damn illegals living in their suburban McMansions driving their Chevy Suburbans 30 miles one way to work in bumper to bumper traffic. Hold on here, illegal immigrants do none of those things.
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Comment posted August 13, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
Shifting bodies around from place to place
Doesn't result in a decrease in bodies
And anyone who thinks to the contrary
Has been drinking too many toddies.
And if one wants to link climate change to people
They need look no further than China
And point their finger at India, too
(Can't come up with a better four-liner).
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[...] that the anti-immigration groups have attempted to use migrant water bottles as part of a broader effort to prove illegal immigration harms the environment. “Illegal entry threatens nature’s delicate balance,” [...]
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