The environmental movement in the United States is engaged in a debate about the role of population and immigration on the movement’s agenda. The authors examine this debate within the Oregon environmental movement. Our focus is the role of race in shaping perspectives on immigration. Environmentalist immigration reformers in Oregon have framed their analysis in color-blind terms, but accusations of racism have dogged them. These accusations can best be understood by examining (a) the broader context of immigration politics, (b) the limitations of color-blind discourse, (c) the incongruity of drawing on a discourse of ecology to make arguments focused on national borders, and (d) immigration reformers’ political economic analysis.
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