Puerto Ricans Could Be Newest U.S. Climate Refugees - Scientific American

1.10.17

Puerto Ricans Could Be Newest U.S. Climate Refugees - Scientific American: The displaced islanders, thousands of whom were awaiting flights yesterday from San Juan’s Luis Mu�oz Mar�n airport, might be among the nation’s newest “climate refugees,” a demographic that includes former residents of southernmost Louisiana and the shrinking islands of Alaska’s Bering Strait.
“It could potentially be a very large migration to the continental United States,” said Maria Cristina Garcia, a Cornell University historian, immigration expert, and author on large-scale population shifts, which includes a forthcoming book on climate refugees.
“Whether that migration will be permanent or temporary is still anyone’s guess,” Garcia added. “Much depends on the relief package that Congress negotiates.”