Immigration Article of the Day: Climate Change and Cross-Border Displacement: What the Courts, the Administration, and Congress Can Do to Improve Options for the United States by Kate Jastram

Climate Change and Cross-Border Displacement: What the Courts, the Administration, and Congress Can Do to Improve Options for the United States by Kate Jastram, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, Forthcoming

Abstract

This paper examines seven existing and potential legal and policy options for improving the United States’ response to people fleeing across international borders in the context of the adverse effects of climate change and disasters. These opportunities are maximizing the potential of the refugee definition in the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, adopting the expanded refugee definition in the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, accepting non-refoulement obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, expanding climate change considerations in the Refugee Admissions Program, making greater use of nationality-specific humanitarian parole programs, leveraging Safe Mobility Offices to lead regional solutions, and reimagining Temporary Protected Status.

KJ