News & Resources
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2025
PRESS CONTACTS
IRAP | Spencer Tilger | media@refugeerights.org
Las Americas | Ivonne Rodriguez | ivonnerodriguez@las-americas.org
NEW REPORT SHOWS ANTI-IMMIGRANT AND ANTI_CLIMATE U.S. POLICIES CONTRIBUTE TO CLIMATE HARMS AND DISPLACEMENT
Report compiles firsthand responses from displaced people seeking safety in the United States
(New York, NY) – Today, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center released a new report in English and Spanish highlighting the dangers of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant and anti-climate policies. The report is based on interviews IRAP conducted in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and El Paso, Texas with 26 displaced individuals from 12 countries in January 2025.
‘Danger by Design: How Climate Injustice Harms Displaced People at the U.S.-Mexico Border’ demonstrates that environmental disasters both contribute to initial displacement and exacerbate vulnerabilities along migration routes. Restrictive immigration policies worsen this crisis by pushing vulnerable populations into perilous migration routes, where climate-exacerbated hazards pose even greater risks to their safety and survival.
“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. “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.”
The majority of interviewees identified environmental disasters and their aftermath as contributing factors in their decision to flee, while many also described how extreme weather conditions such as heat, flooding, and storms intensified the dangers they faced along their migration journeys.
One of the testimonials featured comes from Valentina, a 21-year-old non-binary Indigenous person of the Lacandon Maya people from Chiapas, Mexico. Before migrating, Valentina experienced multiple disasters, including hurricanes, landslides, flooding, and crop failure. After engaging in activism to prevent further degradation, they received threats from government officials and fled their hometown, eventually traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border. During that journey, they faced additional environmental hazards, including flooding from a storm that killed one of their companions and fractured Valentina’s arm.
“For years, the consequences of climate change have been upending lives and forcing entire communities to leave their homes to seek safety. Stories like Valentina’s help us witness the tangible connection between climate change and forced migration,” said Jennifer Babaie, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services at the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. “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.”
The findings complement IRAP’s previous research through the Climate Mobility Data Project, which has documented climate-related harms affecting thousands of migrants and asylum seekers across the Americas.
Learn More
- Read the report in English: “Danger by Design: How Climate Injustice Harms Displaced People at the U.S.-Mexico Border”
- Read the report in Spanish: “Peligro a propósito: Cómo la injusticia climática perjudica a las personas desplazadas en la frontera entre EE.UU. y México”
- Read the 2024 report: “Enduring Change: A Data Review of Firsthand Accounts of Climate Mobility Impacts”
- Read IRAP’s 2024 Legal Action Agenda for Climate Displacement: HERE
- Read IRAP’s 2023 report based on interviews in Tijuana: “Climate of Coercion: Environmental and Other Drivers of Cross-Border Displacement in Central America and Mexico”
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) is a global legal aid and advocacy organization working to create a world where refugees and all people seeking safety are empowered to claim their right to freedom of movement and a path to lasting refuge. Everyone should have a safe place to live and a safe way to get there.
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