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 United States is more firmly shut than ever.
Neither U.S. 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.
But those who have managed to get to the U.S. through other means after being displaced in this way now find themselves in an even more precarious position following Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with little hope of a new system to help others forced from their homes by climate impacts.
For some, that pathway to the U.S. has been particularly perilous. When Hurricane Mitch crashed into Honduras, killing 7,000 people, one a... Read more
