Friends of the Earth Action Reacts to Biden Immigration Executive Order, Climate Impacts
WASHINGTON – Today, the Biden Administration announced an executive order that would block access to the U.S. asylum system at the US-Mexico border after a certain number of people seek asylum.
Karen Orenstein, Climate & Energy Justice Program Director at Friends of the Earth Action, issued the following statement in response:
Today’s immigration-related executive order is unjust and inhumane. It is especially disturbing coming from President Biden, who knows the world is in the throes of a climate emergency that is driving people from their homes.
With the increasing severity of climate events — such as devastating hurricanes, shifting weather patterns, and intensifying drought and desertification — communities around the world are facing greater threats of displacement. Migration and immigration are often forms of climate adaptation.
Immigration policies should be grounded in the historical and environmental drivers of migration, including U.S. militarism and racist and extractivist foreign policy. Those seeking asylum should be treated with dignity and compassion and be afforded their full legal right to asylum. We call on President Biden to rescind this cruel, ineffective action that plays politics with people’s lives.
Communications contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 222-0746