Around the globe, millions are experiencing significant disruptions in their lives due to floods, storms, and heatwaves, all intensified by the climate crisis. Yet, as these individuals attempt to escape their home countries, they are encountering a US that is increasingly closed off to them.
Current US and international laws do not acknowledge environmental hazards, such as climate-induced displacement, as a legitimate reason to seek asylum or utilize other migration routes, even as the impacts of a warming planet lead to more frequent disasters.
Those who have found alternative ways to enter the US after being displaced now find themselves in a vulnerable situation due to Donald Trump’s stringent immigration policies, with little hope for a new system to assist others affected by climate changes.
For some, reaching the US has been particularly dangerous. When Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, claiming 7,000 lives, one family, facing the total destruction of their home, saw relocation to the US as their only hope.
Evelyn, who prefers not to disclose her full name, was a teenager when Mitch struck in 1998. She recalls her relatives in New York City urging her mother to bring her and her sister to the US.
“There were bodies and dead animals floating in the water, the house was messed up, the furniture was all gone – doors, windows gone. It was so, so sad,” Evelyn said. “I got sick because of the mosquitoes and didn’t have any services to rebuild the house because our country is very poor. My uncle and aunt were just like, ‘OK, just bring the kids over here, don’t stay. It’s dangerous.’”
Hurricanes with the intensity of Mitch are increasingly likely due to a warmer atmosphere and ocean, both rapidly heated by fossil fuel combustion.
However, Trump’s immigration restrictions have significantly increased the challenges for people like Evelyn to seek refuge in the US. “Every day it’s more barriers,” Evelyn remarked, who continues to reside in New York with her two daughters, one aspiring to be a lawyer, the other a doctor. “It’s sad to know that people will not be able to apply for a status or something to help their situation and also help the people back home.”
Numerous migrants in the US have endured living in nations beset by climate disruptions and conflict.
“I was invited to come here and be part of this country and now all of a sudden you try to make me go back after establishing a life here?” questioned a doctor from Sudan, who moved to the US years ago and wishes to remain anonymous. The doctor now faces deportation due to a new Trump administration order blocking entry from Sudan and numerous other countries.
A severe drought in Sudan has escalated a fierce civil war and displaced people from agricultural regions.
“People have had to abandon their lands because there isn’t enough water, millions have fled,” the doctor explained. “There is climate change and the difficulty of people sharing resources and the conflicts are affected by that. I would rather stay home and do my medical training here but many factors forced me to leave the country.”
Research indicates that rising global temperatures are worsening droughts, leading to the displacement of 250 million people worldwide over the past decade due to environmental factors, according to the United Nations.
Displaced individuals can also encounter wars or become victims of gangs and other violence due to their movements. These secondary impacts often push them to cross international borders in search of refuge.
“It was always hot, no rain,” remarked another man from Somalia, now seeking asylum in the US, about the drought in his homeland. Similar to Sudan, Somalia has been torn by civil war.
“People from the farming lands, they’re dying, with no water,” he added. “Also the animals, they die because when it’s not raining, everything will dry, people die, animals die, and all the people they run from the farm and come to the city. So everything can get hard.”
After being driven from arid farmland to Mogadishu, the man feared for his life due to armed groups bombing markets and forcing children into militias, leading him to become a refugee. In the US, he now faces new anxieties as the Trump administration has effectively shut down the asylum system, with exceptions only for white South Africans.
“Now we are getting a lot of attacks from the government,” he said. “I don’t know why. I don’t understand what the problem is. It’s scary with the government here, how they are treating people.”
Individuals displaced from countries like Sudan and Somalia now face daunting odds in gaining US entry, according to Felipe Navarro, associate director of policy and advocacy at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.
“If you were displaced by climate change, that door is closed,” he said. “I don’t think climate displacement comes into the administration’s thinking; it’s probably not intentional. They just have a general hatred for certain nationalities and races. This administration doesn’t really care about climate change at all.”
In recent years, some Democratic lawmakers have proposed a climate-related visa for those escaping extreme weather disasters. However, with anti-migrant sentiment rising, the prospects for reform have dimmed, even as the numbers of displaced individuals continue to grow.
“It’s hard to predict the long-term effects of these policies,” Navarro stated. “When we close doors, though, people always find another path to move.”
“`
