Illegal aliens found to cause global warming, study says

Illegal aliens cause global warming, study says

Lynchburg, VA - Illegal aliens coming into the US may significantly affect global warming, warns a new study out this week in the journal Scientific Republican.

“We started looking at all of the current models of Carbon flux in the ecosphere and global change, and realized that all of these models had neglected something important.” says John Guerrero, senior scientist in geology department at Liberty University. “We asked: what is the impact of illegal immigration on global climate change?”

Guerrero’s group designed a model to account for the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with illegal immigration to the US, including transportation-related emissions, emissions of machines used by these immigrants when they work in US factories and corporate farms, and emissions related to other odd-jobs these immigrants work in the US, like construction, painting, etc. The model predicts significant differences in potential outcomes when taking the activities of illegal immigrants into account. “We found that the actions of illegals may account for over 6% of US carbon emissions,” says Guerrero.

“This number may seem small, but it is definitely something to write home about,” says Arnold Buckthorn, global geochemist at the University of East Virginia. According to the predictions of some current models, a 6% difference in carbon emissions could mean a 0.5 degree difference in global temperatures over the next 50 years. This could even amount to 10 additional years before New York City is under water from rising sea levels.

This study has even attracted the attention of the Heritage Foundation (a think-tank to promote conservative public policies), whose members typically shy away from stating support for connections between humans and global change¹.

“People in the scientific communities have said there is growing evidence that Global Warming may be a real phenomenon,” says Guy Baliunez, a senior thinker at the Heritage Foundation. “We here at the Heritage Foundation would not go so far as to say humans are in any way responsible for global change, but we support this particular line of research—we need to get to the root causes of these issues, rather than founding our policy on the baseless suppositions spouted by environmentalists. Illegal immigrants have been responsible for many of the problems plaguing the US economy, and have put a strain on what social services the government still provides—we wouldn’t be surprised if illegal immigration also puts a strain on our environment.”

¹ http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/HL758.cfm