Natural disasters and the dire effects of climate change cause massive population displacements and lead to some of the most intractable political and humanitarian challenges seen today. And yet, under current U.S. law, there is no such thing as a climate refugee.

To address today’s realities, U.S. migration policies need to change, argues María Cristina García in an in-person Chats in the Stacks talk about her book State of Disaster: The Failure of U.S. Migration Policy in an Age of Climate Change (UNC Press, 2022). The book offers a critical history of U.S. policy on migration in the Global South, with a focus on Central America and the Caribbean, where natural disasters worsen poverty, inequality, and domestic and international political tensions.

This book talk is sponsored by Olin Library.