Center for American Progress: The Extremist Campaign to Blame Immigrants for U.S. Environmental Problems

In The Extremist Campaign to Blame Immigrants for U.S. Environmental Problems, Center for American Progress, February 1, 2021, Jenny Rowland-Shea & Sahir Doshi look at the environmental movement and immigration.  It examines the so-called “greening of hate” and its negative effects on U.S. environmental and immigration policy. The article reports that certain right-wing pundits, politicians and policymakers point to immigrants as the primary cause of environmental degradation, despite the fact that immigrants are less likely to contribute to pollution than the U.S.-born. Identifying nine anti-immigrant groups funded, founded or supported by right-wing extremists to which almost every formal argument that claims immigrants are the cause of environmental degradation can be traced, the article analyzes historical and current uses of environmentalism and arguments purportedly couched in science to “greenwash” and disguise anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric and advocacy. 

KJ