WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (June 5, 2024)–Yesterday, President Biden issued an executive action restricting the number of asylum seekers at the United States-Mexico border. In response, Greenpeace USA’s Chief Program Officer, Tefere Gebre, said: “After experiencing the hottest year on record in 2023, 2024 must be the year our elected officials step up to tackle the climate crisis – an essential part of this is establishing safe, compassionate, and human rights-based migration systems for individuals displaced by extreme events. Instead, to satisfy his anti-immigrant critics, President Biden has taken a massive step backwards with this executive action. As a refugee myself, I implore the Biden administration to immediately change course. As the climate crisis accelerates, people worldwide will experience displacement at alarming rates. These are parents, children, and loved ones who deserve dignity and basic human rights.
“The United States is responsible for around 20 percent of all historic carbon emissions, and thus, bears a disproportionate responsibility to lead on just and equitable solutions to address this crisis. As another “heat dome” descends on the United States and Mexico, we need the Biden administration to look to legislation like the Climate Displaced Persons Act for direction on how it can support displaced communities, rather than turning its back on them.”
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Contact: Katie Nelson, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, [email protected], +1 (678) 644-1681
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.
