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State of disaster : the failure of U.S. migration policy in an age of climate change / Maria Cristina Garcia.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2022]Description: xv, 235 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781469669953
  • 1469669951
  • 9781469669960
  • 146966996X
Subject(s):
Contents:
In search of a sustainable refuge -- What a volcano revealed about the vulnerability of small island states -- Disaster relief as foreign policy: when poverty, conflict, and catastrophe collide -- What protections and benefits? Coloniality and citizenship in the U.S. territories -- Moving forward: natural disasters may be inevitable; good U.S. policy is not.
Summary: "Focusing on Central America and the Caribbean, State of Disaster traces the development of U.S. refugee, humanitarian, and immigration policies in response to the 1995-2004 series of volcanic eruptions in Monserrat in the Leeward Islands, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998, and the back-to-back Hurricanes Irma and Maria of 2017 that devastated the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The case of Irma and Maria reveal afresh the neocolonial realities that sentence citizens of U.S. territories to a liminal and unequal political status that makes economic growth difficult and recovery from natural disaster especially daunting. Reflecting what technical social science and science studies indicate but also obscure, Garcia argues that it is high time that U.S. policymakers create desperately needed new policies and suggests ways to amend or create new law altogether. She reminds us that while natural disasters are impossible to prevent, much of the devastation that occurs in the wake of natural disasters is artificial and can be mitigated"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 362.8709 G216 Available 33111011013733
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 362.8709 G216 Available 33111010903793
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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. Yet, as Maria Cristina Garcia observes in this critical history of U.S. policy on migration in the Global South, there is actually no such thing as a "climate refugee" under current U.S. law. Most initiatives intended to assist those who must migrate are flawed and ineffective from inception because they are derived from outmoded policies. In a world of climate change, U.S. refugee policy simply does not work.



Garcia focuses on Central America and the Caribbean, where natural disasters have repeatedly worsened poverty, inequality, and domestic and international political tensions. She explains that the creation of better U.S. policy for those escaping disasters is severely limited by the 1980 Refugee Act, which continues to be applied almost exclusively for reasons of persecution directly related to politics, race, religion, and identity. Garcia contends that the United States must transform its outdated migration policies to address today's realities. Climate change and natural disasters are here to stay, and much of the human devastation left in their wake is essentially a policy choice.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

In search of a sustainable refuge -- What a volcano revealed about the vulnerability of small island states -- Disaster relief as foreign policy: when poverty, conflict, and catastrophe collide -- What protections and benefits? Coloniality and citizenship in the U.S. territories -- Moving forward: natural disasters may be inevitable; good U.S. policy is not.

"Focusing on Central America and the Caribbean, State of Disaster traces the development of U.S. refugee, humanitarian, and immigration policies in response to the 1995-2004 series of volcanic eruptions in Monserrat in the Leeward Islands, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998, and the back-to-back Hurricanes Irma and Maria of 2017 that devastated the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The case of Irma and Maria reveal afresh the neocolonial realities that sentence citizens of U.S. territories to a liminal and unequal political status that makes economic growth difficult and recovery from natural disaster especially daunting. Reflecting what technical social science and science studies indicate but also obscure, Garcia argues that it is high time that U.S. policymakers create desperately needed new policies and suggests ways to amend or create new law altogether. She reminds us that while natural disasters are impossible to prevent, much of the devastation that occurs in the wake of natural disasters is artificial and can be mitigated"-- Provided by publisher.

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