Univision News: Yael Schacher on Immigration

Watch Yael Schacher on Univision News talk about refugee resettlement in the United States.

Cheddar News: Crisis at U.S. Southern Border, Climate Change Interconnected

President Biden will be holding a climate summit later this week, but experts point out that countries fueling the immigration crisis at the U.S. southern border aren't on the list of invitees. Kayly Ober, senior advocate and program manager for the Climate Displacement Program at Refugees International, explains how the fight against climate change and the crisis at the southern border are interconnected.

Al Jazeera The Stream: Could climate change force a billion people to move?

Ever-more frequent extreme weather events have in recent years devastated rural regions in developing countries, with millions of people having to start from scratch after losing everything in storms, droughts and floods.

But scientists also warn that ‘slow onset’ changes to the climate are forcing growing numbers of people to migrate in order to earn a living and support their families.

Global temperatures could increase more in the next 50 years than in the previous 6,000, according to a study by scientists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2020.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration estimates that environmental factors may factor into the migration of between 25 million and 1 billion people by 2050.

While researchers say harsh climatic conditions are rarely a lone factor behind individuals’ decision to migrate in search of a stable livelihood, environmental challenges are exacerbating existing hardships, especially in rural regions. People across Central America, Africa’s Sahel region and South Asia are among those moving to urban centres in search of work. Many migrants who then face difficulties in cities feel they have little option but to cross international borders, as a last resort.

In the first episode of four episodes in support of climate journalism partnership Covering Climate Now, The Stream asks what is needed to humanely address the challenges of increased migration as global heating affects vulnerable communities.

Al Jazeera: Yael Schacher on the Refugee Resettlement Ceiling

Senior U.S. Advocate Yael Schacher talks about refugee resettlement on Al Jazeera.

WOLA: “People coming from the Western Hemisphere have been perceived as inherently not refugees”

This interview originally aired on WOLA.

As the number of asylum-seeking children and families at the U.S.-Mexico border rises for the fourth time since 2014—and as the U.S. government once again responds chaotically—we need to step back and look at the U.S. migration and asylum system. It is clearly inadequate for receiving this population.

We do that in this episode with an expert colleague, Yael Schacher of Refugees International, a historian of U.S. asylum law and policy. Shacher makes many points in this conversation that don’t get enough attention in the current discussion of the border and protection-seeking migration. She notes that U.S. asylum laws were not written with people fleeing the Western Hemisphere in mind. An asylum system adapting to today’s realities, she adds, would abandon “expedited removal” and give a greater role to asylum officers in adjudicating cases—fairly, but more quickly than backlogged immigration courts. And the whole conception of how asylum seekers are received should change.

In this episode Yael Shacher shares many other observations and recommendations, steeped in an understanding of the history of how we got here. Most would not require a change in existing law as much as changes in attitudes and resource allocations. These inputs come at an important time as the Biden administration gradually dismantles the Trump administration’s policies and reviews broader changes to asylum, even while child and family arrivals increase.

Listen to WOLA’s Latin America Today podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you subscribe to podcasts. The main feed is here.

CNN: Kayly Ober on Migration

Senior Advocate and Program Manager of the Climate Displacement Program Kayly Ober talks about climate displacement and other crises that are driving people to make the journey from Central America to the United States.

Watch the interview with CNN’s Michael Holmes.