It is odd that most people have yet to discover the link between climate change and future illegal immigration.

Here is a list of some of the consequences of Global Warming from the National Resources Defense Council and StopGlobalWarming.org.

• increased droughts


• more wildfires and more devastating wildfires


• more intense rainstorms leading to increased flooding


• more deadly heat waves


• more powerful hurricanes


• a rising sea level, flooding away many coastal and island areas


• now primarily tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and encephalitis will become far more common farther north

StopGlobalWarming.org also points out that the majority of the world's population lives on or near the coasts, magnifying the human impacts of global warming.

It should not require much consideration to see that even if only some of these things happen, many people outside of the US will lose their livelihoods and even their homes. Global economic pressures dictate that many of them will come to America out of necessity, not desire.

The underlying substance on the debate on immigration is whether the US has levels that are low enough for us to benefit or if our economy has reached a saturation point which would require reducing the level of immigration. Most people who think that we have yet to reach that saturation point would be concerned by the potential of tens or perhaps hundreds of millions of desperate Global Warming refuges arriving here, especially if our economy suffers anywhere near as much as expected from climate change.

Even people who disagree with the premise of a saturated economy would generally prefer that people come to the US out of a desire to live here, not an unwanted necessity based on economic deprivation caused by Global Warming.

I find it sadly ironic that some anti-immigration activists are obsessed with punitive measures, walls, fences, etc.,. These will have a minor effect in comparison with what climate change can do to the level of illegal immigration to the United States, unless serious efforts are made to decrease CO2 emissions. Some of the anti-immigrant folks even mock the science of global warming in much the same way that the far right mocks evolution.

They will be sorry.