Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Mumbles McGuirck – Just in case you thought activists had reached the bottom of the well of climate absurdity.
Revealed: huge climate cost of harmful emissions from US immigration flights
Trump campaign accelerating climate crisis as officials move migrants to detention jails and deport them from US
Alexandra Villarreal with graphics by Aliya UteuovaTue 26 May 2026 19.00 AEST
US immigration enforcement flights are producing hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions as officials shuttle unprecedented numbers of people to detention centers far from home and deport them to countries across the world.
Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign has spurred at least an 80% increase in such flights year over year, accelerating the climate crisis by emitting massive amounts of carbon dioxide, according to data analysis shared exclusively with the Guardian.
“We’ve seen a staggering increase of all US immigration [enforcement] flights,” including “the number of flights as well as the locations that the flights are going to,” said Savitri Arvey, director of research and analysis for refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First (HRF), the US advocacy group.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) air operations pumped into the air an estimated 335,876 tonnes (370,240 US tons) of carbon emissions in 2025, up 88% from the year before. And the first four months of 2026 show the federal agency is on track to contribute even more to global heating this year from such flights, the Guardian can reveal.
Those emissions exacerbate the climate crisis, a driver of irregular migration in itself, while polluting the air in local communities used as flight hubs, such as Phoenix in Arizona, El Paso and Harlingen in Texas, and Alexandria in Louisiana.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/26/us-immigration-flights-emissions
Its tempting to say something snarky about how much more CO2 would be emitted if the illegals were granted amnesty and were able to live comfortable energy rich lives in the USA rather than being deported to whatever energy poor hellhole they came from, but the claim that immigration flights are impacting climate change is just too ridiculous.
The impact of such flights on CO2 emissions is a blip, an accounting error on last year’s expansion of China’s coal capacity. The impact of those flights would not be measurable, by any instrument which could be devised by known technology.
“…according to data analysis shared exclusively with the Guardian.” Of course it was exclusive. The Guardian is the only paper that would publish such nonsense.
You beat me to it! That was my first reaction as well.
Did they really use the phrase “illegal immigrants?” I doubt it.
The leftists during the Biden Administration deliberately opened the flood gates for illegal immigration and they are now fighting tooth and nail to prevent any deportations. They are hoping if they can fight a rear-guard action until the 2028 elections and, if they win, reopen the gates. This silly article is just one more attempt to thwart the effort clean up their mess.
ICE air operations contributed 335,876 tons of co2 in 2025. Total human emissions in 2025 were 42 billion tons. So ICE’s operations contributed less than one part in 100,000 of total human emissions. For arithmetically challenged climate alarmists, this is an utterly insignificant percentage.
Much like 410 ppm (0.041%) CO2 concentration is an insignificant percentage.
One has to wonder how much was emitted by anti-ICE demonstrations and riots, No Kings rallies, etc., not to mention the endless climate conferences.
One also wonders how much was emitted by all the world-wide travelling to get to the borders in the first place.
The “No Kings” movement announced a nationwide event set for June 14, which is President Trump’s 80th birthday.
And also Flag Day….
I’ll celebrate both!
Maybe they’ll riot…er… hold it in Britain, where they have a real king.
Or course the basic assumption,, which is not stated, is that CO2 has any influence on the climate.
It doe not have an influence on the weather and climate is just an average of weather.
Co2 didn’t had any negative climate impact throughout all the years Blinken has been flying illegals into the country.
Very selective, this Co2.
I wonder…. Does CO2 wear a Pride Flag? 😉
OK, I’ll do the “what-about-ism” thing on this storey –
what about all the CO2 emissions from totally unnecessary CoP jollies?
Haven’t these grifters heard of Zoom?
Copulation Of Party ers is difficult on Zoom ….
😉
Sheesh.
“US immigration enforcement flights are producing hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions as officials shuttle unprecedented numbers of people to detention centers far from home and deport them to countries across the world.”
These people flung themselves FAR FROM HOME and are simply being given free rides BACK HOME.
It’s REPATRIATION with a side benefit of plant food.
That is all for now.
If I were an illegal immigrant from Venezuela and an immigration officer asked ‘where do I send you back to?’ my answer would be ‘Sweden’. What you think everyone in Sweden is tall and blond!
Greta comes from Sweden ! Be very careful what you wish for. !
If 1 million Cubans move to Sweden, electricity consumption increases
with 10540tw/h/year.
12000-1460 = 10540kw/h/person/year.
10540*1000000=10540000000kw/h/year=10540000mw/h/year=10540tw/h/year.
Oh dear. Your jocular scientist Willis Eschenbach worked out that if UK’s Net Zero drive was to be successful (ho ho) global temperature in 2100 would fall seven ten-thousands of a degree C. For you innumerates, that’s a Very Small Number
!’m surprised it was that big! 🙂
The Very Small Number is of course, assuming that the CO2 warming theory is correct. Lots of data suggests it is not.
I was in England last week for the “heatwave”. Had a fabulous time at Wembley at the Championship footie playoff final, amongst other warm and well-lubricated events. I must’ve spoken with well over 100 people and 100% of people who mentioned the weather, as that’s what Brits do, were pretty happy with how wonderful it was. Bye bye climate crisis. It was not so nice knowing you.
hey guardian, stay in your lane and keep your propaganda on your side of the pond!
They certainly get their panties in a wad every time a Republican makes a comment regarding European politics.
“And the first four months of 2026 show the federal agency is on track to contribute even more to global heating this year from such flights, the Guardian can reveal.”
absolute rubbish.
One hopes for double, triple or more, I can reveal.
Cue Gretta!
No one asked the illegal immigrants to enter the USA so surely, the “huge climate cost of harmful emissions” should be placed on the immigrants, not on the USA immigration enforcement flights?
you are mostly correct redge. not long after the installation of president biden, kamala went on a whirlwind tour of south america. not long after her return, the caravans started to form up and make their way north.
coincidence?…i don’t think so.
so let Biden pay for the emissions
if there was only a way.
It’s only a “mass deportation” campaign because the prior Democrat administrations opened the door to unlimited, unchecked illegal immigration.
From what I have read, the number of self deportations exceeds the numbers being forcibly excluded.
Trump was elected to carry out a mass deportation.
LMAO & Coffee in the keyboard :<)
Humans exhale ca. 2.9 billion tonnes of CO2 every year. To this should be added all the CO2 exhaled by domestic animals ranging from cattle to canaries. Although total emission of CO2 is ca.42 billion tonnes for 2025, the present concentration of CO2 in dry air at the Mauna Loa Obs. in Hawaii is only 431 ppmv. One cubic meter of this air has mass of 1,290 g and contains a mere 0.85 g of CO2.
Where does all this CO2 go? The sinks for CO2 are:
Plants on landPlant life in the oceans and in fresh watersAll surface watersPorous surfaces such as sandy deserts and soilThere is too little CO2 in the air to have any effect on air temperature, weather and climate. Last winter in the Yukon and NWT in Canada air temperatures plunged to -50° C, which broke all previous low temperature.
We really do not have to worry about CO2 causing a slight global warming, but we will always to worry about long cold winters.
more like a bottomless pit of climax absurdity….
“Just in case you thought activists had reached the bottom of the well of climate absurdity.”
This is hilarious and utterly impossible. It doesn’t matter how ridiculous the climate cultists get. They can and always will find something even more absurd.
This is a religious cult. It doesn’t know what shame is. Their only purpose now is to use whatever propaganda they can gin up to retain what acolytes they still have.
Not only denying them a better life; also actively destroying the climate of their home countries, as a side effect, as we do so.
Knowing this, I am going to have a bit of trouble sleeping at night. Might be that I only get 9 or 10 hours now (depending on my mid day nap of course).
The guilt is killing me.
The British tabloid are as serious today as they were in the grocery checkout aisles in the 70s. Back then aliens abducting celebrities was all we had to worry about with a laugh. Now it’s your science, your government, and your institutions at risk.
Ah! That is the equation!
Aliens abducted humans. Altered their minds. Sent them back. This is the result!
Give new meaning to the phrase “illegal aliens.”
/humor
Actually, emissions are directly correlated with population growth, and most population growth in the United States in recent decades has been with newly arrived immigrants and their children, many of whom (millions) are here illegally. Therefore, deporting these millions will serve to reduce emissions compared to the paltry amount of jet fumes from kicking them out of the country.
So the Biden administration, NGOs, and sanctuary cities could be said to be the major contributors to climate change in the US (if we assume for the sake of argument that CO2 is really a problem, which of course it is not). Another great example of cognitive dissonance among the left-wing lunatics running today’s Democrat party.
Being snarky does not alter the basic fact that deporting illegal aliens to third world countries reduces their carbon footprint and is a net benefit in carbon dioxide accounting.
That’s funny. The narrative used to be that since Americans emit more CO2 per capita than anyone else, there should be fewer Americans to save the planet. You’d think that if that was the case, Progressives would have our borders locked tight instead of throwing open the floodgates.
If there were some sort of league or competition to see which media outlet could dredge up the most outlandish climate alarmist theories, The Guardian would be not only in first place but also would have clinched the championship already.
I must have missed the bit where the Guardian analysed the CO2 emissions of the COP30 attendees. Here’ an AI summary
Independent Estimates: Academic analyses of UN climate conference emissions estimate that a summit of this scale can generate hundreds of thousands of tonnes of \(CO_{2}\), with some independent models estimating between 150,000 to 400,000+ tonnes of \(CO_{2}\) when factoring in private jet travel and long-haul flights from across the globe
But that’s good CO2…
We’re going to have to put all liberals on a no fly list till we get every illegal deported ,that should zero out the carbon foot print of illegals being flown back to where they came from… problem solved!