It's All Connected: 5 Reasons Why Climate Activists Should Speak Out About ICE

What's happening in the U.S. with ICE in Minnesota and American cities, and the unconstitutional actions and human rights abuses should concern all climate activists and sustainability professionals.

Here are five reasons why these overreaching federal actions impact our work:

1 . Humane immigration policy is essential to our shared climate future.

Creating a humane policy to deal with immigration now and in the future is necessary for our shared climate future. We are all closer to being climate refugees than billionaires. It could happen to anyone. According to the United Nations Commission on Human Refugees, we will see considerable shifts and movements in global population after climate-fueled disasters. Furthermore, the cycle of violence, human rights violations, and climate disruption are already creating more instances migration. In 2023, for example, there were 26.4 million displacements of people as a result of climate disruption.

The World Bank predicts that by 2025 there will be more than 143 million internal migrants (within countries' borders) because of climate. In the US we've seen migration within the country's borders post-hurricane Katrina, the LA fires, and floods in Texas. Climate activists and sustainability professionals must monitor the impact of immigration policies and advocate for common-sense, flexible approach on how we address the increasing instability from climate disruption.

2. The rule of law is under attack.

Without a functioning rule of law, we cannot scale climate solutions nationally or globally. ICE is not respecting the rule of law. A federal judge declared that in the month of January 2026 alone, ICE violated 97 court orders. More court order violations than many agencies have ever had in the history of their existence. An internal memo from ICE was sent to agents declaring that the fourth amendment, which protects against unwarranted searches and seizures, did not apply to them. This memo instructed agents that they could enter homes without a warrant signed by a judge. The failure to recognize and abide by the legal process threatens us all.

What is happening right now -- armed, masked federal agents going "door-to-door" and entering houses without search warrants -- is not a humane or sustainable immigration policy and enforcement in the United States. Violating immigration law in the United States is a civil offense, not a criminal one. Despite the rhetoric of this Administration that they are going after the worst of the worst, it appears that many people booked into ICE custody have no criminal record. According to the conservative think tank the Cato Institute, of all the people booked into ICE custody since October 1, 2025, five percent were from people with criminal convictions and seventy-three percent had no convictions:

"Nearly half had no criminal conviction nor even any pending criminal charges. Only 8 percent had a violent or property criminal conviction. Only 5 percent had a violent criminal conviction. A majority of criminal convicts had vice, immigration, or traffic convictions." David J. Bier, Cato Institute, 11/24/25.

The lawlessness and government overreach that are unfolding from the Department of Homeland Security undermines all our efforts to enforce environmental civil law and criminal law.

3. Misinformation & suppression of information are widespread.

Administration officials at the highest level are misleading the American people. Before any investigation had begun of two American citizens killed by ICE, Administration officials called them "domestic terrorists" who were intent to "massacre ICE agents." We are being misled by elected officials who are supposed to ensure a fair and just government. Social media algorithms are dividing us, and the Administration's misinformation is making it worse.

Disinformation is not a unique experience for sustainability professionals.

Misinformation-fueled campaigns by the oil and gas industry are the reason that we are still fighting the climate crisis. Information is also being suppressed by apps and has been about climate science. There is 99.9% scientific certainty that climate change is caused by humans, and primarily by our energy choices for oil and gas, yet more than 30% of Americans still don't believe it. There are also reports that social media apps are suppressing information this is critical of this Administration. Similar news reports claim that  climate-related social media posts are also being suppressed by media companies. The functioning of a free press and accurate information are essential to the work of climate action.

4. Eco-Anxiety is rampant.

   In my books, I define eco-anxiety as an overall anxiety about the future. For more about how young people are feeling about our future, see here. If you aren't feeling anxiety about democracy globally and the state of the United States, you probably aren't paying attention.

   

   The United States backed out of the Paris Climate Agreement within weeks of this new Administration taking office. After 30 years of participation, this Administration also exited the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in early 2026. The rollbacks of the EPA are substantial, including no longer considering the value of saving human life in regulating mercury pollution, only the costs to industry. Attacks on public lands by this Administration continue. New policies have resulted in national park signage that shares the history of Native American culture on public lands be taken down, and even exhibits on US history of chattel slavery are being removed and censored. People are understandably worried, burned out, and worried about the rise of authoritarianism.

5. The future is ours to design.

The United States has a long history of state sponsored violence. Constitutional violations and human rights abuses have been happening to Black, Brown, and Indigenous people for a very, very long time and white people are finally waking up. From slave patrols to the Trail of Tears to the KKK and Jim Crow policing, this is American history. It is who we are. 

But it's not who we are going to be.

We get to decide. We are the architects of the future.

Climate activists and sustainability professionals need to act and speak out.

Enough is enough. 

Call your members of Congress to ask them to say NO to the abusive, unconstitutional tactics of this Administration and ICE. As we understand more about the impact of climate change on global migration, we must support common-sense, humane immigration reform. What's happening now, isn't that. It's time for ICE OUT of Minnesota and communities around the country.

Here are resources to support people on the ground in Minnesota, to know your rights, and to understand immigrant rights here. Talk to your friends and neighbors, connect with community, and understand that it's all connected and so are we.

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OneGreenThing founder & CEO Heather White is an environmentalist, lawyer, and nonprofit executive with more than 20 years experience in environmental law, policy, and advocacy. She's a frequent spokesperson in the national media on environmental issues and has appeared on Good Morning America, ABC, NBC, MSBNC, and quoted in numerous national media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Teen Vogue.