Problematizing Temporary Protected Status Policy in Constructing a Framework for Climate Migration in the United States

Anthropogenic climate change has already begun to displace millions of people from their homes globally, and is projected to induce hundreds of thousands of people to migrate to the United States in the coming decades. While climate migration policy is frequently discussed in academic and policy fields, no international or federal-level policies presently exist to provide general protections specifically for cross-border climate migrants arriving in the US. Nevertheless, as one of the only federal policies that addresses displacement due to environmental factors, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) can provide important insights into how future climate migration policy can and should be implemented. This paper interrogates and problematizes the ways in which TPS is conceptualized as a potential protection mechanism for climate migrants through a case study of TPS designations for Honduras and Nicaragua, and interviews with immigration service providers who work with TPS recipients. Through this analysis, I find that TPS can be utilized by migrants and advocates as a point of leverage for climate migration protections; however, hurdles like liminal status, discretionary designations, and what I term "administrative ambivalence" make it difficult for climate migrants to experience comprehensive protection in the US. In the absence of broad-reaching climate migration protections globally, many authors have previously proposed theoretical international protection frameworks or federal policy changes; this paper attempts to ground these largely theoretical proposals in existing US policy (TPS) to better understand the roadblocks and potential paths forward for climate migration protections. I highlight the extent to which TPS could be used as an interim protection mechanism for climate migrants, and argue for a broader complementary protection policy in the United States.