Examining How the Far-Right Uses Immigration Enforcement for Climate Obstruction

• In Event: Borders, Bodies, and Security: Climate Change and Global Inequality

Abstract

Research on anti-environmentalism and climate obstruction focuses on the tools that counter-movements use to thwart climate policies. These studies have examined how disinformation, media manipulation, state capture, racism, and misogyny advance anti-climate goals. In building on this research, we heed calls to investigate the relationship between immigration enforcement and climate inaction. We ask: how does the far-right use immigration enforcement as a tool for climate obstruction? This conceptual paper develops a framework based on analogic reasoning and theoretical sampling, focusing on four case studies in the US. These cases show that the far-right advances climate obstruction by connecting immigration enforcement to: racial threat during climate disasters; “closed borders” and conservation; deportation and decarbonization; and pro-natalism and climate denialism.

In the first case, Hurricane Helene illustrates how anti-environmental politicians stoke racial threat related to immigration during a climate disaster. In 2024, Donald Trump galvanized voters by falsely claiming that the Biden administration sent money to migrants at the “open border” and denied disaster relief for hurricane victims. The second case involves a 2024 lawsuit in which a white nationalist group argued the government’s lack of border enforcement violated the National Environmental Policy Act. This lawsuit reflects a far-right claim that “closed borders” and conservation go hand-in-hand. In the third case, a federal immigration raid on an electric vehicle battery plant shows how deportation thwarts decarbonization. This 2025 raid led to the deportation of over 300 South Korean workers, whose specialized labor was central to the energy transition. Last, a Heritage Foundation proposal illustrates how the far-right sees immigration enforcement and climate denialism as buttressing a pro-natalist agenda. This proposal argues that closing the border and downplaying climate anxiety will increase fertility rates. Overall, this paper reveals how the far-right fuses racism, patriarchy, and nationalism with immigration enforcement to obstruct climate mitigation.

Authors

• Ian Robert Carrillo, University of Oklahoma

• Annabel Ipsen, University of Oklahoma