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Progressives for Immigration Reform Says Trump Administration Should 'Make America Green Again' by Utilizing Environmental Law


WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), a nonprofit group, says the Trump Administration should consider utilizing the National Environmental Protection Agency and two key pieces of legislation, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), to address the immigration crisis.

At the height of concern about overpopulation and degradation of the natural world, the Environmental Protection Agency was proposed and established by Republican President Richard Nixon in 1970, and he subsequently signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. These essential pieces of legislation are considered the Magna Carta of U.S. environmental law.

"President Trump has powerful tools in cornerstone environmental legislation that he could apply to bring commonsense to our immigration system," said Kevin Lynn, Executive Director of Progressives for Immigration Reform. "With these laws, federal agencies are required to assess the environmental impacts in areas for which they have purview and ensure the preservation of biodiversity and the natural habitat for that biodiversity.

"Federal agencies operate as though they are exempt from NEPA and the Endangered Species Act, however, when it comes to population growth and the impact of that growth on the natural world. The U.S. has seen historically high immigration-driven population growth since NEPA became law, and no environmental impact study has been conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, or its predecessor, the INS," Lynn added.

Countless science-based studies through the years have shown the connection between environmental degradation and population. Driven by the need for more and more living space, supporting infrastructure for modern living, and farm and ranch lands to produce food, more and more land is being appropriated for human use, at a tremendous loss to the natural world. Research shows that surveyed animal populations have declined by more than 50 percent on average in the last two generations, as reported in National Geographic.

To make the case for utilizing the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and the Environmental Protection Agency in helping decide if we need more, less or about the same levels of immigration, PFIR produced the video, "NEPA: Let's Make America Green Again." View the video here, and learn more at Progressives for Immigration Reform.

About Progressives for Immigration Reform
Progressives for Immigration Reform is a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the unintended consequences of mass migration. PFIR supports economic policies that protect workers' rights, increase wages and decrease economic inequality, and environmental policies that preserve habitat for wildlife and conserve resources for future generations.

 

SOURCE Progressives for Immigration Reform



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