Love/Hate
The U.S. has a love-hate relationship with immigrants. In the face of climate catastrophe, they deserve so much more.
LISTENING: to my heater boil the water that keeps me warm
FEELING: exhausted
SEEING: my cat doze off on the couch
This country has a twisted love-hate relationship with immigrants. That's true for both parties. The Democratic Party has historically called for immigration reform and pathways to citizenship. We're still hearing that rhetoric, as well as calls for border control and security. But isn't that the right's fight?
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At the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris said: "I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship — and secure our border.”
So which one are we? A nation of immigrants? Or a nation that turns them away at the border? I'm not sure it's possible to be both — not without turning away some of the most vulnerable.
Welcome to Possibilities, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m Yessenia Funes, and we need immigrants to build a climate-resilient future.
One of my all-time favorite stories I've written followed an undocumented worker who would head into disaster recovery zones to help rebuild after a hurricane. It was a heartbreaking piece that spotlighted how companies exploit these workers — but also how dependent cities and counties are on this workforce to repair after an extreme weather event has occurred. We know that climate change is strengthening these storms. We need a dedicated workforce to clean up after they've passed.