Climate change is one factor pushing people to migrate to the United States from other parts of the Americas, but U.S. officials aren’t factoring it into their response to the destabilizing effects of rising temperatures.
Hurricanes, heat waves and other climate-driven disasters are damaging homes and affecting job opportunities in other countries. When combined with other vulnerabilities, such as poverty and political turbulence, those effects are leading people to leave their homeland, according to a new report based on a survey of 3,600 immigrants by the International Refugee Assistance Project, a legal aid group.
That’s something U.S. immigration policy needs to account for, advocates say.
“Climate displacement is not a future issue, it is happening now, and we have to address this reality head-on with humane, orderly, and common-sense policy solutions,” Ama Francis, climate director at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), said in an email.
