Migration was a characteristic aspect of 2024, spanning climate change, political instability, and economic insecurity. Latin America has witnessed a spectacular increase in migration due to environmental degradation that wiped out traditional means of living. Climate change has exacerbated droughts, hurricanes, sea-level rise, and deforestation, pushing millions out of their homes to seek more stable and safer conditions (Gemenne, Su and Zickgraf). As the global migration regime weakens and international law can no longer protect the most vulnerable populations, Latin American climate migrants face increasing peril en-route north, particularly to the United States.

While migration from Latin America is traditionally attributed to economic desperation and violence, climate change is a powerful but all too often underestimated force (Gemenne, Su and Zickgraf). Higher temperatures and prolonged droughts have devastated agricultural sectors across the region, rendering it impossible for many of them to sustain their livelihoods. In Central America, the "Dry Corridor" countries Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua experienced extreme drought that has led to massive crop failure (UN environment programme). Many smallholder farmers who had once relied on subsistence agriculture have been pushed off their land, joining the growing ranks of climate migrants heading north.

Latin American coastal towns are also being relocated by sea level rise and intense weather. The indigenous Guna Yala are being relocated from their traditional island settlements to the mainland by the threat of sea level rise covering their villages (Guerra). These people are clearly climate refugees, but in the context in which they petition for asylum outside of their nation, they are typically characterized as economic migrants. This prevents them from obtaining international protection with refugee status.

Tropical storms and hurricanes have also strengthened with climate change, destroying everything in their wake. Consecutive Hurricanes Helene and Milton destroyed the United States in 2024, displacing many people. In 2020, the same pattern of consecutive Hurricanes Eta and Iota displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Central America (Schmidtke). Storm victims, whose livelihoods and homes were destroyed, turned to the dangerous migration route to the United States southern border. Such large-scale climate disasters are becoming more frequent, accelerating the migration trend in the region.

For the displaced by climate change, the journey north is dangerous. Central American migrants regularly travel through Mexico along cartel and gang-controlled routes, subject to kidnapping, extortion, and violence. Some try to ride "La Bestia," a freight train notorious for fatal derailments and accidental amputations (Martínez). Others make the crossing in perilous weather conditions along the Darién Gap, a dense rainforest along the Colombia-Panama border, where migrants are vulnerable to harsh weather, disease, and attack by criminal gangs (Roy and Baumgartner).

At the United States-Mexico border, additional obstacles—such as razor wire, river buoys with attached saw blades, and abrasive deterrence policies—also put migrants in harm's way (Human Rights Watch). The United States has established stringent policies that render official avenues for asylum impossibly restrictive, leaving them stuck in dangerous border cities or compelling them to travel more risky routes (Martínez). Climate migrants, though displaced by force, are frequently categorized as economic migrants, lessening their opportunity to be granted asylum. Current international law continues to fail to protect climate migrants from harm. The 1951 Refugee Convention does not list climate change or the environment as a valid reason for refugee status. As a result, displaced Latin Americans are rarely accepted into asylum in destination nations, such as the United States.

Further, many countries, namely the United States, have adopted deterrence-based migration policies that are against global human rights standards. These policies intend to render the migration path riskier and leave migrants in the dilemma of either life or death. The use of militarized border patrol, mass deportations, and actions like Title 42—exiling migrants without due process—have escalated the plight of climate migrants fleeing for asylum (Human Rights Watch).

As climate change intensifies, Latin American migration will keep on increasing. The increased temperatures, droughts, storms, and deforestation will keep on moving the people, particularly from the nations that rely on agriculture and fishing. Unless substantial policy overhaul is implemented, climate migrants will keep facing more threats along the way, as well as in their final destination. In order to address this crisis, international law will have to evolve to recognize climate migration as a valid instance of forced migration. Host nations, such as the United States, must open more legal avenues for those displaced by environmental disasters. Climate adaptation investment in Latin America may also allow communities to remain within their native countries rather than being displaced. Until these structural shifts occur, Latin American climate migrants will remain beset by tremendous challenges, crossing dangerous paths with no legal protection. The world must recognize that climate change is not merely an ecological emergency—it is a serious driver of human displacement that the world must act on immediately.

Braden Galbert is a first-year student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, who is originally from a suburb of Chicago, IL. He is studying Political Science and International Affairs with a minor in Spanish Language, Literature, and Culture.

Bibliography

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