Washington (September 26, 2018) – The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that every federal agency carefully consider the potential environmental consequences of any action and report them to the public before the agency acts.
This has never happened regarding immigration, despite that fact that the federal immigration program is responsible for increasing the U.S. population by some 70 million people since the passage of NEPA in 1970.
To remedy this, the Center for Immigration Studies is suing the Department of Homeland Security to vindicate NEPA's explicit concern with population growth, which is literally the first item listed in its "Congressional declaration of national environmental policy".
A new report from the Center traces this comprehensive failure to comply with the law, not only on the part of DHS, but also of the other agencies involved in regulating immigration, including the departments of State, Justice, Labor, and Health and Human Services. Nor is NEPA the only environmental law being ignored by immigration agencies; the Endangered Species Act requires consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service if a federal action threatens an endangered species, as the destruction of habitat by massive government-engineered population growth inevitably does.
Julie Axelrod, the Center's chief litigation counsel and author of the report, said, "The fact is that 96 percent of population growth in this country between now and 2060 – approximately 75 million people – is going to be driven by immigration. DHS should not make sweeping changes to our immigration laws without careful consideration of what massive population growth means for America's vulnerable natural resources and wildlife."