US Shuts Out Climate Refugees
The Plight of Climate Refugees
Millions of people around the world are having their lives upended by floods, storms, and heatwaves worsened by the climate crisis. Those forced to flee their home countries, however, are finding that the door to the US is more firmly shut than ever.
US Immigration Policies and Climate Displacement
Neither US nor international law recognizes environmental hazards, such as climate-related displacement, as a valid cause to claim asylum or gain entry through other migration pathways, despite the mounting toll of disasters caused by an overheating planet.
The Human Impact of Climate Change
For some, the pathway to the US has been particularly perilous. When Hurricane Mitch crashed into Honduras, killing 7,000 people, one affected family surveyed the unsalvageable ruins of their home and realized they had a lifeline – to move to the US. Evelyn, a teenager at the time, recalled how her relatives in New York City pleaded with her mother to bring her and her sister to the US.
The Data Analysis
- 7,000 people killed by Hurricane Mitch in Honduras
- 250 million people worldwide displaced by environmental factors in the past decade
The Impact Analysis
Storms of the deadly ferocity of Mitch are even more likely now because of a hotter atmosphere and ocean that has rapidly heated up from the burning of fossil fuels. Yet Trump's migration crackdown has made it far harder for people like Evelyn to flee to the US now.
The Prediction
People uprooted from countries like Sudan and Somalia now face an almost impossible situation in terms of entry to the US, according to Felipe Navarro, associate director of policy and advocacy at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.