The human tide streaming to America’s southern border may only grow in coming years as the impacts of climate change push northward migration.
While the Trump administration attempts to stem illegal immigration, a joint Marshall Project-Weather Channel investigation reveals that weather patterns resulting from climate change are contributing to the movement of people north. The extreme weather includes a severe years-long drought along a large swath of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua known as the Dry Corridor.
Correspondent John Carlos Frey visits the US-Mexico border and speaks with migrants waiting on asylum applications, then heads to Guatemala to witness how staple crops such as corn and beans have failed as a result of the drought. He learns that this agricultural ruin has led to widespread hunger, which may, in turn, lead to an exodus.