Colbert Shows Anti-Immigrant ‘Environmental’ Group’s Ties to Hate

A new ad running on MSNBC claims undocumented immigrants are destroying the environment. Guess where their data comes from?

By Channing Kennedy Apr 26, 2012

Last night on [the Colbert Report,](http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/413205/april-25-2012/the-word—united-we-can-t-stand-them) Stephen Colbert and his writers thoroughly took apart a slick new TV commercial by a group called Californians For Population Stabilization. The ad uses bogus science to claim that the real environmental crisis in California is caused by undocumented immigrants. Colbert debunks that quickly, but then moves on to the source of the bad science: the Center for Immigration Studies, one of several "unbiased" organizations founded by influential nativist [John Tanton](http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2008/winter/the-tanton-files), and a [driving force](https://colorlines.com/archives/2010/04/rachel_maddow_exposes_racist_origins_of_sb1070.html) behind SB 1070 and its copycats. It’s worth pointing out that [this isn’t the first time](https://colorlines.com/archives/2008/07/antiimmigrants_racists_front_a_1.html) that anti-immigrant forces have used the environment to slip their agenda into left-of-center spaces; kudos to Colbert for calling it out. H/T to the [New York State Immigrant Action Fund.](http://nysiaf.org/2012/04/26/colbert-report-the-solution-to-global-warming-deportation/)