By Joseph Bonasia
Months after historic wildfires engulfed parts of the city, the National Guard and Marines are in Los Angeles, where President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have sparked protests.
Here in Florida, while we stare down the barrel of another hurricane season, during which no state is more at risk than we are, Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared that Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration’s immigration operations.
Which impacts you more, undocumented immigrants or the climate crisis? Have undocumented immigrants put you in harm’s way like the winds, storm surges and flooding of increasingly destructive hurricanes have?
It took my wife and me nine months to put our home back together after incurring $120,000 in damages from Hurricane Ian. I cannot identify any moment when undocumented immigrants have disrupted my life. Have they disrupted yours?
Which is greatly responsible for home insurance rates that are on average the highest in the nation: undocumented immigrants or the climate crisis? Which has prompted insurance companies to leave Florida?
Which is having a greater impact on home values and the real estate market? Are people worrying about undocumented immigrants or the impacts of extreme weather and insurance premiums when considering a home purchase in Florida?
Which is a greater threat to your health and restrictive of your outdoor activity considering that extreme heat can damage your central nervous system, brain and other vital organs?
Climate-driven saltwater intrusion threatens our public water supply. The climate crisis is compelling the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in elevating roads, reinforcing seawalls, improving drainage systems and relocating critical facilities further inland.
It is exacerbating blue-green algae blooms and red tides, thus impacting our health, wildlife and local economies. Here in Southwest Florida where I live, harmful algal blooms like those we had in 2018-19 cost us over $25 billion and 43,000 jobs.
It has caused devastating harm to Florida’s citrus industry. Hurricane Ian alone cost citrus growers $247 million in losses. It has smashed Southwest Florida’s shrimp industry. It is harming our renowned coral reefs and thus their total tourism value of $1.1 billion annually.
Can undocumented immigrants ever cause the disruption, destruction, harm and hardship that hurricanes Ian, Nicole, Idalia, Helene and Milton have caused in less than three years?
Hurricanes are natural, you might say. True, but now they are unnaturally destructive, supercharged by warming ocean waters. You saw how Helene and Milton rapidly intensified into category 4 and 5 storms, respectively, in less than 24 hours.
This new breed of hurricanes, in the context of extreme weather worldwide — wildfires, droughts and unprecedented heat waves — corroborates what scientists and your own eyes tell you.
Yet, two years after Hurricane Ian inflicted $150 billion in damages and incalculable hardship in Florida, and after Helene and Milton’s wicked one-two punch, President Trump claims climate change is a hoax. His energy policies will aggravate our climate crisis by increasing the use of fossil fuels. His administration has fired climate scientists, removed climate information from federal websites, ceased tracking the costs of extreme weather events and cut billions in clean energy investments.
Gov. DeSantis and our Legislature deserve credit for the Resilient Florida Program, which involves “the largest investment in Florida’s history to prepare communities for the impacts of sea level rise, intensified storms and flooding.” But they are not addressing the cause of our climate crisis (which is like arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants but not stopping more from coming in).
Gov. DeSantis has had the words “climate change” removed from most Florida laws and nullified goals to enhance renewable energy use. He did not accept hundreds of millions of federal dollars to address greenhouse gas emissions, and has prohibited the consideration of climate change in investment decisions for the Florida Retirement System Defined Benefit Plan.
Meanwhile, although undocumented immigrants commit less than half the violent and drug-related crimes U.S.-born citizens do, President Trump is prioritizing aggressive efforts to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants at projected costs of $80-88 billion, if not more. At Gov. DeSantis’ urging, our Legislature passed a $250 million package of immigration measures.
For President Trump and Gov. DeSantis, undocumented immigrants, not climate change, pose a grave threat to citizens. Do their policies reflect Florida realities? When it comes to your most pressing concerns, vital interests and conscience, are their priorities your priorities?
Joseph Bonasia is a founding board member of the SWFL RESET Center. Banner photo: Boats are piled together in Fort Myers in November 2022, in the aftermath of the storm surge caused by Hurricane Ian. (iStockphoto image).
Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here. To support The Invading Sea, click here to make a donation. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. To learn more about storm surge, watch the video below.
