ABSTRACT
Natural disasters cut off people’s livelihoods, whether because of loss of crops in rural areas or loss of jobs in urban communities, another catalyst of immigration. And natural disasters destroy homes and other property, providing a powerful motive to leave for more prosperous places to earn money and send remittances back home for reconstruction. This chapter looks at the relationship between catastrophes and immigration, and in particular, Temporary Protective Status (TPS), now under threat, which marked the first time that the US government recognized the collective humanitarian impact of natural disasters in the region.
There is likely to be more climate-related immigration, as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. That immigration will swell diaspora communities in the United States and beyond, which, in turn, are an important source of help when disasters occur again, as they inevitably do.
