The Department of Homeland Security warned this week that climate change is likely to contribute to a further surge of migrants at the southern border.
'We are already experiencing the adverse impacts, from sea-level rise, extreme heat, flooding, and drought, to changes in migration patterns and harmful effects on workforce health,' DHS wrote in its Climate Action Plan released Thursday.
'Climate change is likely to increase population movements from Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean and impact neighboring countries.'
'Increases in human migration may require more resources and operational capacity at the U.S. border to facilitate the application of immigration law, including the law governing claims for humanitarian protection,' it said.
The report found that melting ice in the Arctic is leading to greater competition with China as the polar regions transform into a 'competitive space. The department also said that melting ice could lead to new routes for smuggling and human trafficking.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the department would establish a 'climate change action group' comprised of senior officials from across DHS that would focus on promoting resilience and preventing risks, such as flooding, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires.
DHS predicted that extreme weather events would intensify in the next 10 years, costing the US approximately 100,000 jobs and $15 billion in GDP by 2025.
On Thursday, more than 20 federal agencies released their own climate adaptation plans to detail how they would take steps to mitigate climate change. The Department of Defense said that climate change was a threat to national security and had already affected military readiness. The Education Department pointed to the impact of wildfires on students.
A record-shattering number of Haitian migrants have come to the US in the last month, and the trend doesn't appear to be stopping as more people continue to pour into the Colombian town of Necocli, a popular spot for smugglers to shepherd people through the perilous Darien Gap.
The Darien Gap is a 66-mile stretch of rainforest between North and South America. Its dangerous terrain is part of the reason it's been left undeveloped and why it poses such a great risk to the people crossing it now.
More than 70,000 migrants have traveled through the Darien Gap this year, Panamanian authorities have said.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the department would establish a 'climate change action group' comprised of senior officials from across DHS
More than 70,000 migrants have traveled through the Darien Gap this year, Panamanian authorities have said
Mayorkas reportedly asked his officials last month whether the department was ready to handle the possibility of up to 400,000 migrants
Mayorkas reportedly asked his officials last month whether the department was ready to handle the possibility of up to 400,000 migrants, nearly double the 21-year high seen in July, crossing the border in October.
Despite public attempts to appear in control of the situation at the southwest border, a phone call between Mayorkas and senior officials earlier this week shows a Biden administration scrambling to contain a growing crisis.
Mayorkas asked on the call if the border was ready for a worst-case scenario of 350,000 to 400,000 migrants crossing the border next month, two DHS officials told NBC.
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