Environment & Energy

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.

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