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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

García, María Cristina, 1960- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climatic changes--Social aspects.

Climatic changes.

Disaster relief--Government policy--United States.

Disaster relief.

Environmental disasters--Social aspects--Caribbean Area--Case studies.

Environmental disasters.

Environmental disasters--Social aspects--Central America--Case studies.

Environmental refugees--Government policy--United States.

Environmental refugees.

United States--Emigration and immigration--Government policy.

United States.

United States--Foreign relations--Caribbean Area.

United States--Foreign relations--Central America.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 235 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill, North Carolina : The University of North Carolina Press, [2022]

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.

Contents:

Introduction. 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.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

979-88-908615-1-1

979-88-908615-2-8

1-4696-6998-6

OCLC:

1340946997