We’ll Never Solve Immigration If We Don’t Solve Climate Change

Jun 18, 2019 | Penny Pritzker
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In the recent standoff between the U.S. and Mexico, the Trump administration commingled the issues of trade and immigration. This is the wrong approach, and it ignores one of the root causes of the migration challenge: a rapidly warming planet.

Climate change and immigration have become more inextricably linked than ever. As of the end of May in fiscal year 2019, almost 150,000 migrants from Guatemala traveling with family members had been apprehended at our southwest border. That represents roughly 1% of the country’s total population. While there are a number of reasons driving this migration, including violence, poverty, and corruption, researchers now believe that climate change represents a significant underlying factor. In Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, 2.2 million people have lost their crops due to excessive rain and drought, according to the World Food Programme. These are also some of the world’s most susceptible countries to drought.