Violent Infrastructure: Natural and Unnatural Barriers to Climate Migration

This paper attempts to compare and contrast the impact of immigration policy on climate migrants in three Global North countries, Italy, the United States, and New Zealand. Climate migration will continue to be one of the most significant international concerns as global temperatures increase and previously habitable areas of the globe become uninhabitable. Climate migrants are forced to migrate for a variety of reasons due to climate change, including sea level rise, famine, rising temperatures, drought, and natural disaster. Global North countries must begin to transform their immigration systems towards climate justice and acceptance for climate migrants or communities will continue to be harmed in the Global South. In this paper, I argue that immigration policy emphasizing militarization and natural deterrence in Global North countries harms climate migrants and to enact climate justice for these migrants, we must transform our migration systems towards greater solidarity and relational justice.