Is the Open Borders Network Worried About Losing the Environmentalists?

by Ira Mehlman

The open borders network has been spending a lot of time, effort and money lately trying to refute the idea that immigration is an environmental issue. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has turned its formidable war chest into an attack machine against just about everyone advocating immigration limits, has recently stepped up efforts to discredit individuals, groups and foundations who argue that limiting immigration-driven population growth poses a threat to the environment.

While the SPLC has tons of money, they are widely viewed as less truthful than a used car dealer in a loud polyester jacket. Their attacks against the environmental wing of the true immigration reform movement have not gained any traction. Enter the serious players. The Center for American Progress - a powerful player in the open borders network - has called a telephonic news conference for Wednesday to announce the release of a new report, Immigration and Climate Change, that according to their press release, "strikes down many of the false arguments regarding immigrants and the environment, provides a clearer picture of immigrants' environmental contributions, and outlines real environmental solutions that can cut carbon and curb climate change."

CAP has close ties to the Obama White House, and one of the featured speakers at Wednesday's news conference is Van Jones, a former advisor to the president's Council on Environmental Quality. Jones was forced to resign his White House job last year when it was revealed that in 2004 he had signed a petition by a group known as 911Truth.org, suggesting that the Bush administration allowed the attacks of 9/11 to happen as a pretext for going to war, and his involvement with Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), an organization described by the Washington Post as having "Marxist roots."

Clearly the open borders network is concerned about the message that FAIR and other immigration reform groups have been making linking mass immigration to environmental concerns. They have good reason to be worried. Until the mid-1990s, most major environmental groups in the U.S. were on record in support of reduced immigration. While the leadership of many of the mainstream environmental groups decided, about 15 years ago, that immigration was an issue they would prefer to avoid, many committed environmentalists continue to make the obvious connection between mass immigration, rapid population growth, and impact on the environment.

The many fissures in the open borders network are becoming increasingly visible and, given the attention being paid to keeping environmental groups in the fold, it stands to reason that the network is concerned about losing its green wing.