Love/Hate

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?

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.

‘I Have Rights:’ How Undocumented Laborers Are Exploited During Disaster Recovery

Mario used to work. A lot. Twelve-hour workdays and seven-day workweeks are kind of the expectation when your job is to rebuild after a storm—and you’re

GizmodoYessenia Funes

However, these workers are extremely vulnerable. Undocumented workers don't always feel safe to formally complain about workplace violations or safety issues. The worker I spoke to suffered lifelong injuries after Hurricane Michael in 2018. He was on a roof, installing the iconic blue tarps we see on homes after disasters. Then, he fell. Now, he can't work because of the extent of his injuries.

Leaders in this country want to have enough workers to ensure communities can return to some sense of normalcy after a storm, but they don't want to confront the reality that so many of these workers are immigrants and deserve a pathway to citizenship.

Resilience Force is a nonprofit dedicated to training these workers and providing them with the resources and knowledge they need to defend themselves and stay safe on the job. I'm a huge fan of the organization because they see an opportunity: Imagine a world where immigrants can work their way to the middle class. We know disasters will keep happening. We know communities will need help to rebuild. We know there's a labor shortage in the construction industry. Why can't immigrants fill that gap while making a living wage?

When will this country finally create a proper pathway for this group of people to not only work safely but to live here safely? Right-wing nuts now want to perpetuate lies that immigrants are the reason the Federal Emergency Management Agency has run out of money. I had a friend who was an immigrant herself ask me about that conspiracy. It's extremely alarming when even immigrants are falling for anti-immigrant sentiment.

We know that climate change will displace people. Immigration to the U.S. won't stop. There needs to be a culture shift — where we embrace migrants, where we welcome their cultural gifts, where we understand that people deserve the right to leave and also the right to stay.

Most people don't want to abandon their lives, but they've got no other choice. Now, those same folks are likely the ones in Florida and North Carolina removing debris and assessing damage after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. They're the ones climbing roofs and gutting out kitchen cupboards. Immigrants are the ones who help home feel like home again.

Why does this country hate them but love their cheap labor? I'll never understand. 🌀

Rest in Power

While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more disasters like these.

Hurricane Milton killed at least 24 people in Florida.

Northern Thailand saw devastating floods last week that left at least two people dead.

Over the weekend, rains left Sri Lanka inundated, drowning at least three people.

The death toll from Bosnia's floods has reached 26.

Currently Reading

Immigrants are also farmworkers, and this Miami Herald piece from Syra Ortiz Blanes looks at how a community radio became their lifeline in the face of Hurricane Milton.

CNN's Rachel Ramirez is literally one of my favorites, and her solutions story on the net-zero, storm-proof community that survived Florida's back-to-back hurricanes is a must-read.

We should all be concerned about how insurance companies are handling our policies in this country. David W. Chen has an important election story on the topic for The New York Times.

From VICE: "I worked with Shell for about 10 years. My job really was to listen to workers anonymously about their safety concerns ... There was one time, a group of workers who appeared to be working a most extreme shift pattern I've ever seen, which was 31 days non-stop working with one day off ... They just begged for help."

Sam Levin's profile of trans activist Gavin Grimm for the Guardian shows us the way trans folks continue to stand with the climate movement — despite the movement failing to stand with them.

Poetry

a knock at the door
death's bony fingers creep in
"come with me," he says

-ylf-

Left y'all with a haiku. I'll be back in your inbox next Thursday.

- Yessenia