MMillions of people around the world have had their lives upended by floods, storms and heatwaves exacerbated by the climate crisis. But those who have been forced to flee their home countries find the door to the United States more firmly shut than ever before.
Neither U.S. nor international law recognizes environmental hazards, such as climate-related displacement, as a legitimate reason for seeking asylum or gaining entry through other migration routes, despite the increasing toll of disasters caused by the planet’s overheating.
But those who manage to reach the United States by other means after such displacement find themselves in an even more precarious position in the wake of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with little hope for new systems to help those forced from their homes by the effects of climate change.
For some, the path to the United States was particularly dangerous. When Hurricane Mitch crashed into Honduras, killing 7,000 people, one affected family surveyed their irrevocably ruined home and realized they had a lifeline to emigrate to the United States.
Residents of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, look at their homes destroyed by landslides caused by Hurricane Mitch on November 3, 1998. Photography: Yuri Cortes/AFP/Getty Images
Evelyn, who did not want to give her full name, was a teenager at the time of Mitch’s murder in 1998 and recalled that relatives in New York City begged her mother to bring her and her sister to the United States.
“There were dead bodies and dead animals floating in the water, the house was a mess, all the furniture was gone, the doors were gone, the windows were gone. It was very, very sad,” Evelyn said. “I got sick because of the mosquitoes, but our country is so poor that there were no services to help us rebuild our homes. My uncle and aunt were like, ‘Okay, just bring the kids here and don’t stay here, it’s dangerous.’
Storms of Mitch’s terrifying ferocity are now even more likely as the atmosphere and oceans are rapidly heating due to the burning of fossil fuels.
But President Trump’s immigration crackdown now makes it much harder for people like Evelyn to flee to the United States. “There are more and more barriers every day,” said Evelyn, who still lives in New York. She has two daughters, one aspiring to become a lawyer and the other a doctor. “It’s sad to know that people won’t be able to apply for qualifications or anything to help their situation and also help people back home.”
Some immigrants in the United States face life in a country reeling from climate change and conflict.
“I was invited to come here and be a part of this country, and now all of a sudden I’ve established a life here and they’re trying to take me back?” said a Sudanese-born doctor who immigrated to the United States several years ago but requested anonymity. The doctor faces possible deportation under the Trump administration’s new proclamation banning all entry into the United States from Sudan and dozens of other countries.
Sudan’s severe drought has exacerbated the country’s violent civil war and forced people from the farmland where the doctor comes from.
“People have had to abandon their land because there is not enough water, and millions have been displaced,” he said. “There is climate change, it is difficult for people to share resources, and conflicts are also affected by this. I would like to stay home and receive medical training here, but many factors have forced me to leave the country.”
Researchers have found that rising global temperatures are making droughts worse, a key reason why 250 million people around the world have been forced to flee due to environmental factors over the past decade, according to the United Nations.
Displaced people living in certain countries may be affected by war or become victims of gang or other violence as a result of their displacement. These secondary effects often force them to flee across borders and secure shelter elsewhere.
Another man from Somalia, who is currently seeking asylum in the United States, said of the drought in his country: “It was always hot and it never rained.” Like Sudan, Somalia is also suffering from civil war.
“People living on agricultural land are dying from lack of water,” he added. “Animals die, too, because if it doesn’t rain, everything dries up. People die, animals die, and people all run away from their farms and come to town. So everything can become difficult.”
Displaced people in a camp in Tawila, Sudan, on February 23, 2026, where a drought has worsened the humanitarian crisis. Photo: Giles Clark/Getty Images
The man said he became a refugee after being driven from dry farmland to Mogadishu, fearing for his life because of armed groups who bombed markets and forced children to become soldiers. He now faces new fears in the United States after the Trump administration effectively shut down South Africa’s asylum system to all but white people.
“Now we are under a lot of attacks from the government,” the man said. I don’t know what the problem is. It’s scary how the government here treats people. ”
Felipe Navarro, deputy director for policy and advocacy at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, said people forced to flee their homes from countries such as Sudan and Somalia now face near-impossible conditions to enter the United States.
““If you are being displaced by climate change, the door is closed to you,” he said. Probably not intentionally. They just have a general hatred towards a particular nationality or race. This administration doesn’t care about climate change at all. ”
Some Democratic lawmakers have tried in recent years to introduce climate-related visas for people evacuating from extreme weather disasters. But as the political climate tilts strongly against immigration, supporters’ hopes for reform have waned, even as the number of displaced people swells.
““It’s hard to predict the long-term effects of these policies,” Navarro said. “But when you close the door, people always find another path forward.”
