McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A new report by two nonprofit groups finds that climate policies implemented by the Trump administration are driving migrants north to the U.S. border. And it comes as meteorologists predict the world is getting hotter and more prone to environmental disasters.
The report, “Danger by Design: How Climate Injustice Harms Displaced People at the U.S.-Mexico Border,” was released Wednesday by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. It is based on interviews conducted in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas with dozens of migrants from 12 countries in January when President Donald Trump took office.
The report says that environmental disasters both contribute to initial displacement and exacerbate vulnerabilities along migration routes. And that restrictive immigration policies worsen the issue by pushing vulnerable populations into perilous migration routes, where climate-exacerbated hazards pose even greater risks to their safety and survival.
“Climate change is a significant driver of displacement, yet current legal frameworks fail to protect people fleeing climate-related disasters and other harms caused by environmental degradation,” the report found.
Among the asylum-seekers interviewed, 65% or 17 out of 26 said climate harm was a factor influencing their decision to leave their home country.
And 88% said they experienced “extreme weather” during their migration to the border, which included extreme heat, cold, flooding and storms.
“This report shows that we are facing a human rights disaster as the United States restricts legal immigration pathways while simultaneously failing to address the climate crisis driving displacement,” said IRAP Climate Research & Operations Specialist Julia Neusner, who co-wrote the report.
“The only just and effective response to the reality of climate change is the creation of orderly and accessible pathways to safety for displaced people,” Neusner added.
The report found that “there is no international legal framework or U.S. law designed specifically to protect climate-displaced people.”
There is no international legal framework or U.S. law designed specifically to protect climate-displaced people.”
IRAP report
“The consequences of climate change have been upending lives and forcing entire communities to leave their homes to seek safety,” said Jennifer Babaie, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services at the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. “Now more than ever, lawmakers must recognize that climate change knows no borders. We are in need of policies that embrace the humanity of the issue, rather than those that demonize persons on the move.”
All interviewed were either awaiting a CBP One asylum appointment or had recently entered the United States through a CBP One appointment.
The Trump administration has canceled CBP One appointments and instead has turned the app into a CBP Home app that allows migrants to self-deport.
The report found that U.S. policies are “restricting asylum access and freedom of movement across the region (that) further drive people into more dangerous routes such as through deserts, jungles and waterways where climate change makes already perilous journeys even more deadly.”
Policies changes cited under the Trump administration include: rolling back of limits to greenhouse gas emissions and control climate change.
The report urges U.S. leadership to change its climate policies and says other global leaders also “must advance global policy solutions that address compounding challenges of mass displacement and climate disasters.”
Also Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization released a report saying there’s an 80% chance that at least one of the next five years will exceed 2024 as the warmest on record.
That report finds there’s an 86% chance that at least one of the next five years will be more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1850-1900 average. And it forecasts a 70% chance that the five-year average warming for 2025-2029 will be more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
The projections come from 220 model forecasts using computer simulations run by 14 different global centers of scientists.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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