Plaintiffs Win Standing in NEPA Challenge to Biden-Harris Immigration Actions

author Published by Eric Ruark

On September 27, 2024, a federal judge for the first time held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accountable for ignoring the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when taking immigration actions that “unsecured the border almost overnight.” The case is Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform v. Department of Homeland Security.

NEPA requires federal agencies to provide a detailed statement of environmental impacts, referred to as an environmental impact statement (EIS), for every proposed policy, law, or other major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.  Though it is an environmentally significant policy to greatly expand immigration by deliberately letting millions of people into the country, neither DHS nor any of the federal agencies responsible for immigration policy, including the Department of State and legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agencies, have ever complied with NEPA.

The NEPA law itself acknowledges the importance of population growth, stating that Congress recognizes “the profound influences of population growth” on the natural environment.  However, immigration policies have never been subjected to environmental review or NEPA compliance.  So, about eight years ago (May 2016), the NGO “Progressives for Immigration Reform” filled the void by releasing a “programmatic” EIS, written by Phil Cafaro and Leon Kolankiewicz, which evaluated the potential environmental impacts of America’s immigration program.

Alarmed by DHS’s recent disregard for border controls, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) stepped in and has, since 2021, been litigating claims against the Biden administration’s flagrant NEPA violations in the area of immigration.  The case has been before the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, on behalf of a number of concerned citizens, including ranchers who live on the Arizona border.

In his opinion released Friday, Judge McFadden found the Center’s witnesses credible, holding that former Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Rodney Scott had credibly determined that “Overnight, the United States ‘went from having a very secure border’ back to a policy of ‘catch and release’ without any ‘physical deterrent’ to illegal crossings.”  The Judge also concluded: “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,” such as NEPA.

Therefore, the court found that DHS should not be ignoring the environmental effects of out-of-control immigration, and should be required to comply with NEPA to control their reckless and environmentally destructive policies.  Otherwise, through our excessive and relentless population growth, America’s environment will continue to suffer from resource shortages (e.g., diminished drinking water, wildlife habitat, farmland, biodiversity) and a loss of resiliency to natural weather events (e.g., droughts, floods, wildfires, hurricanes).

More than anything, NumbersUSA acknowledges the ambition, ability, and tenacity of CIS’s attorney, Julie Axelrod, for bringing this case to trial, and winning.  In deference to“the catastrophe [the Biden Administration] unleashed on the Southern Border,” Julie hopes that “this case marks the beginning of the Department of Homeland Security and other immigration agencies keeping NEPA’s promises of transparency and public accountability.” 

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