As Global Climate and Refugee Crises Accelerate, a Call for Humanity

Advocates have sounded the alarm for years that climate change will worsen the global migrant crisis. But today, on World Refugee Day, the US government’s open hostility to immigrants is exacerbating the situation, as extreme weather conditions and natural disasters continue to create more migrants and refugees looking to call the United States home.

Despite this reality, the Trump administration has hammered the “America First” message from its previous four years in power.

One of the current administration’s first actions this January included canceling travel for asylum seekers who were already approved to enter the country through the federal refugee resettlement program. This left many people stranded throughout the world, despite some of them having gone through a years-long process and having confirmed travel plans to the United States, PBS News reported.

Months later, immigrants who showed up for scheduled check-ins before a judge have been detained and processed for deportation.

This isn’t new. NPQ reported on the Trump administration’s first efforts to block immigrants and refugees from entering the country in 2017. The administration’s hiatus on accepting new entries devastated refugee resettlement agencies, which had planned to welcome over 100,000 refugees that year.

But there is new urgency as the second Trump administration adopts harder-line tactics and the climate crisis gathers momentum.

Climate and Refugee Crises Accelerate

By the end of 2024, there were more than 40 million transnational refugees worldwide according to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). A 2023 briefing from the European Parliament connected some of these forcibly displaced people to the lack of support during and after extreme weather events. “Since 2020, there has been an annual increase in the total number of displaced people due to disaster compared with the previous decade of 41% on average,” the briefing explained.

These dangerous events are accelerating—2024 was the hottest year on record, according to NASA, and communities across the globe experienced dangerous heat conditions. A report from the World Meteorological Organization found that weather events from last year alone “led to the highest number of new annual displacements since 2008, and destroyed homes, critical infrastructure, forests, farmland and biodiversity.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has slashed millions of dollars in funding for critical climate studies, likely contributing to future forced displacement through a lack of reliable information when it is needed most.

The US government’s nationalistic approach to this ever-growing problem is not a tenable political or humanitarian solution. So how should countries, including the United States, prepare themselves for the inevitable influx of people escaping climate disaster, economic insecurity, and global conflict?

According to Alexander de Sherbinin, a research scientist and professor at the Columbia Climate School, policies from about 30 years ago could present a better path for admitting migrants into the country. He referenced how migrants from countries like Mexico and Central America used to have work visas to enter the country and some would go home after a period of time.

“It would actually sort of lessen this desperation to get across the border….That would also reduce the tremendous overhead that’s absorbed and taken by the narcos (drug traffickers) and other groups that are engaged in human smuggling,” said de Sherbinin.

He pointed out that governments should pay attention to lower-resourced communities that may feel in competition with newly arrived people for affordable housing and jobs. And though the United States can and should regulate who enters the country and for how long, de Sherbinin noted, the current rhetoric unfairly paints migrants as the cause for many of society’s ills, like heightened crime.

“Particularly in the US and Europe, our tendency is to ‘other’ people from the Global South and label them as ‘mass migrants’,” he said. “Which kind of denies their humanity at some level.”

Faith Leaders Respond

By contrast, the Vatican is beginning to lead the way in addressing this crisis. Newly appointed Pope Leo XIV has been outspoken on environmental stewardship and human rights, and his call for moving “from words to action” on the climate crisis is spurring some other faith leaders to act.

Pope Leo appointed Bishop Michael Pham—a refugee from Vietnam—who has reminded congregations and fellow church leaders of the need to support migrants and refugees. Earlier this month, Bishop Pham and several other bishops in the Diocese of San Diego wrote a letter to “fellow priests, deacons, and ministry leaders” to support immigrants on World Refugee Day—a call to action for faith leaders to accompany immigrants making court appearances this week.

“Migrants and refugees find themselves in the difficult predicament of being called to appear, which is what the government asks of them, and then being given orders for expedited removal from our country,” the letter read.

The letter also lamented that the presence of faith leaders would likely not change the outcome if anyone was detained, but, the bishops wrote, “Being present will be a good way for us to give witness and stand with immigrants.”