Is the National Council of Science and the Environment Cozy With Anti-Immigrant Agenda?

We received word from our friends at Imagine2050 that the Executive Director of the rabidly anti-immigrant NumbersUSA, Roy Beck, has been invited to speak at a conference entitled “New Green Economy.” It is quite surprising and appalling that the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) invited Roy Beck, who is far from an expert on real environmental issues.

Given that nativists have tried to target the environmental movement for over 20 years and re-launched their efforts with “Progressives for Immigration Reform,” this latest platform gives our nativist friends at NumbersUSA another chance to spread their hate for immigrants, regardless of legal status. Roy Beck will show up with one of his unscaled charts or worse some gumballs, turning environmental justice into environmental racism.

The National Council of Science and the Environment has responded to our initially query by trying to distance itself from any views expressed at their conference. Executive Director of NCES, Peter Saundry, stated in email communication that he did not plan to disinvite Mr. Beck but that he would be pleased to meet with everyone opposed to Roy Beck and his anti-immigrant agenda at the conference today and tomorrow.

We know that Americans are smart enough to realize that immigration to the United States is not the root cause of gas-guzzling SUVs, big oil companies ravaging the environment, and a lifestyle that would require 5.3 planets. China has 1.3 billion people as opposed to the 300 million in the United States and they still have a lower ecological footprint. Surely, protecting the environment is not all about reducing population numbers, as NumbersUSA would like the environmental movement to believe.

We are a nation of immigrants. Take a moment today and ask the directors at NCES why they are jumping on the anti-immigrant bandwagon by giving space to white nationalists at their New Green Economy conference.