Does Mass Immigration Adversely Impact the Natural Environment?

Now comes a lawsuit contending that President Biden's immigration executive orders, signed on his first day in office in 2021, violated the provisions of the National Environmental Protection Act.

Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform v. US Department of Homeland Security Citizenship and Immigration Services: In September 2023, the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform, a membership pro-environment group, filed a lawsuit in US District Court, District of Columbia, charging that mass immigration, including policies inducing population growth, has negatively affected the environment since the Biden administration replaced the Trump administration in January 2021.

Biden's Department of Homeland Security and US Citizenship and Immigration Services are the culprits that implemented the immigration changes.

USCIS is a component agency of DHS, along with other components such as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US Customs and Border Protection, Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Secret Service, US Coast Guard, and numerous other sub-department divisions.

While many Americans would aver that allowing millions of aliens into the country is prima facie environmentally significant, neither Department of Homeland Security, State Department, nor predecessor agencies such as Immigration and Naturalization Services have ever performed NEPA compliance before acting to expand immigration.

The judge's deciding statement concluded that, "Presidential administrations enjoy significant discretion in the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws and protection of our borders. But this latitude does not license violations of other laws." Translation: While Biden's DHS and USCIS have some discretion in enforcing US immigration laws, this discretion does not allow violation of NEPA's requirements to investigate and report on environmental harm resulting from these presidential immigration policies.

The Center for Immigration Studies, which had filed an amicus brief for plaintiff standing, is hopeful that the plaintiffs will be successful on the merits of their case. 

https://mises.org/mises-wire/does-mass-immigration-adversely-impact-natural-environment