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BIDEN’S BORDER RESTRICTIONS ARE STRANDING CLIMATE MIGRANTS IN
EXTREME HEAT  
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Ayurella Horn-Muller
June 12, 2024
Grist
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_ Many people seeking asylum are fleeing climate disasters. Biden's
latest border move puts them even more at risk. _

, (Katie McTiernan / Anadolu via Getty Images)

 

With much of the southwest baking under record temperatures,
immigrants’ rights advocates worry President Joe Biden’s decision
to effectively close the border to asylum seekers for the foreseeable
future will endanger lives and further marginalize climate-displaced
people
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refuge in the U.S.

Their concerns come as a heat dome
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over Mexico and the southwestern United States has obliterated
temperature records
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Phoenix to Sacramento, California. The searing conditions had health
officials urging people to limit their time outdoors and take other
steps to protect themselves from a climate-charged
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pressure system that has killed dozens of people across several
states in Mexico
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The promise of a hotter-than-average
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has raised fears that Biden’s directive, which allows the government
to suspend border crossings when they surpass 2,500 daily, will lead
to a surge in heat-related illnesses and possibly deaths.

“This executive order being issued at this time is an additional
cruelty that will force more people into dangerous conditions where
they’re exposed to a really severe climate impact,” said Ahmed
Gaya, director of the Climate Justice Collaborative at the National
Partnership for New Americans.

The order Biden signed June 4 followed mounting calls
from Republicans and Democrats alike
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curb the flow of migration at the southern border
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The declaration, which took effect immediately
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has already led to thousands of deportations
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will be lifted only when the seven-day average of encounters between
ports of entry from Mexico dips below 1,500 per day, something
the Associated Press reported
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happened since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Biden’s decision to drastically regulate a legal pathway into the
country for the bulk of migrants at the southern border, with limited
exceptions such as unaccompanied minors, is “clearly a political
stunt,” Gaya said. “Given the fact that many of the people at the
border have climate driving the root cause of their migration and need
to seek safety, they are now at the border being forced to wait in
limbo indefinitely, while their asylum is shut down under this order,
and being exposed to severe climate impacts that risk their lives,”
he said.

Dangerous heat already poses a lethal threat for many at the border.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, or CBP, in El
Paso identified four people, presumed to be migrants, who died of
heat-related illnesses while crossing the border, as reported by the
Guardian
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Last year’s record temperatures
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contributed to more than 100 deaths in the same area
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Some immigration advocates worry the administration’s edict
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create an even worse environment for asylum seekers
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“This policy’s implementation collides with the hottest, most
dangerous months on record as the climate crisis continues to
accelerate,” said Kim Nolte, CEO of Migrant Clinicians Network.
“We fear that this policy will result in more deaths as desperate
people are pushed further and further into remote and lethally hot
areas to cross the border.” 

Past research
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the risks of climate migration faced by people around the world
suggest this could very well be the case. “As temperatures increase,
we will absolutely see higher mortality, illness, death and injury for
these asylum seekers that are coming to the U.S., seeking safety,”
said Anne Junod, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute
who studies climate migration. 

The Biden administration’s directive is “actually more extreme”
than similar policies the Trump administration enacted
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and just as unlikely to hold up in court
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said Sarah Rich, senior supervising attorney and interim senior policy
counsel at the Southern Poverty Law Center. (The American Civil
Liberties Union has announced its intention
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sue the Biden administration over the order.)

Border Patrol agents have already begun turning back migrants
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the international border to prevent them from reaching U.S. soil — a
revival of a controversial Trump-era policy
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physically blocking asylum seekers from entering the country, which is
required to claim asylum.

Beyond barring entry, Biden’s proclamation denies asylum to all who
enter between ports, increases the legal standards required to receive
asylum, and gives those seeking it only four hours to prepare for
their initial interview, including attempts to contact and consult
with legal counsel, according to Rich. It also means that the only way
to be granted asylum in the U.S. is to make an appointment via
the CBP One app
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which can take months and is “essentially a lottery system,” she
said. 

The immigrant rights community in the U.S., is, according to Rich,
collectively opposed to the Biden administration’s latest executive
action. “We are upset. We are disappointed. Many people are enraged
by this. It feels like a real betrayal,” she said.

Others are also concerned over what this signals for the push to
allow people displaced by climate change
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seek refugee status in the U.S., particularly for a president who just
three years ago signed an executive order
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the government to examine the impact of climate change on migration
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One of the Biden administration’s first actions coming into office
was making climate-related migration a priority, noted Gaya, but the
administration has since moved in the opposite direction. “This
further goes down the wrong road, in the wrong direction, by cutting
off more avenues for folks who are seeking asylum, often on grounds
that include climate impacts, from doing so,” he said. “This
executive order is both a deep disappointment on President Biden’s
immigration promises, as well as on his hopes to be a climate
leader.”

_Ayurella Horn-Muller is a Staff Writer at Grist_

_Grist is the only award-winning newsroom focused on exploring
equitable solutions to climate change. It’s vital reporting made
entirely possible by loyal readers like you. At Grist, we don’t
believe in paywalls. Instead, we rely on our readers to pitch in what
they can so that we can continue bringing you our solution-based
climate news.  Donate Now
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* Climate Change
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* border wall
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* migrants
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