Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

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Changing Climate, Changing Migration | Could a Super El Niño Displace Millions from Their Homes? Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

A forecasted historic El Niño, labeled “Super Godzilla,” is expected to peak in late 2026 and turn 2027 into the hottest year ever recorded on the planet. Expected to be the largest El Niño in at least 1,000 years, the event is expected to result in extreme temperatures, devastating rainfall and droughts, and other unusual weather patterns globally. Although the event is a naturally occurring phenomenon in the Pacific, its impacts are magnified by human-caused climate change.

That could lead to huge displacement.

In this episode, we speak with Alexander Kjærum, a global advisor and senior analyst with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) who has forecasted some of the potential displacement impacts of the super El Niño. He explains why the weather system may lead to new displacement, highlights specific examples around the world, and discusses how organizations are seeking to use anticipatory action to protect people before disaster strikes.

Chapters

01:38 El Niño's Global Weather Impacts

03:22 Displacement Forecasts for East Africa

09:31 Climate Stress, Conflict, and Trapped Populations

14:33 Anticipatory Action, Cost-Efficiency, and Funding Cuts

Secondary Schools' Bilingual Gap: Promising Practices and a Path Forward Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

Nearly 5.6 million students in U.S. public schools are classified as English Learners, and over 2.3 million are enrolled in secondary grades. Yet bilingual programs are heavily concentrated in the elementary grades, leaving many older multilingual students in grades 6 through 12 without access to programs designed to build their language skills while mastering grade-level content and meeting course requirements for graduation.
States and districts have considerable autonomy to pursue policies that support the diverse learning needs and academic success of multilingual students. What steps can they take to create, implement, and sustain bilingual programs in secondary schools?
This webcast features findings from a report answering that question, based on interviews with bilingual education experts, district leaders, and higher education faculty across California, Illinois, New Mexico, and New York. Speakers unpacked the key obstacles bilingual programs face, shared promising practices from the field, and offered recommendations for state and local policymakers and stakeholders ready to expand access.

Speakers:

Margarita Machado-Casas, Professor, Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education, San Diego State University; President, National Association for Bilingual Education
Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, Strategic Advisor, Californians Together
Lorena Mancilla, Associate Director for K-12 Partnerships and Policy, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, MPI
Victoria Kim, Associate Policy Analyst, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, MPI

Moderator: Delia Pompa, Senior Fellow for Education Policy, MPI

www.migrationpolicy.org

Changing Climate, Changing Migration | Precedent or Cautionary Tale? The U.S. Climate-Driven Relocation of Isle de Jean Charles Aug 28, 2026

Show notes

In 2016, the U.S. federal government provided $48 million to relocate the climate-threatened Louisiana island of Isle de Jean Charles. The effort, which was the government’s first climate-driven community relocation project, was closely watched as a potential model for the future.

But the relocation was more challenging than originally anticipated. Many residents who were members of a Native American tribe felt they had been treated unfairly or were excluded from decisionmaking. In the end, some tribal leaders referred to the process as a “cultural genocide.”

We speak with Jessica Simms, a cultural geographer who was Louisiana’s lead outreach and engagement coordinator for the resettlement effort. She traces the array of factors behind the decision to relocate and the mix of successes and challenges along the way.

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Chapters

01:44 Louisiana's Disappearing Coastline
07:46 Previous Failed Relocation Attempts
09:07 Federal Funding and National Goals
13:50 Miscommunication between Tribes and the State
17:30 Outreach Efforts and Voluntary Relocation
22:02 The Relocation's Legacy

Changing Climate, Changing Migration | Fiji on the Front Lines of Climate Mobility Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

Fiji has long been at the forefront of developing policies to help its residents voluntarily relocate to escape the extreme effects of climate change. The country, which is comprised of hundreds of islands in the Pacific, faces rising sea levels, extreme weather, and other dangers.

But for many Fijians, the choice to pack up and leave home is a difficult one. Many have a deep spiritual and personal connection to place, a concept known as vanua. Meanwhile, as one of the largest economies in the region, Fiji is also a destination for migrants from other Pacific Island countries, including those threatened by climate change.

How has the government tried to support people who move? What considerations do residents consider when deciding whether to relocate? And what is the response to immigration from other countries?

On this episode, we discuss these issues with Sargam Goundar, a Fijian doctoral researcher at the University of Otago.

Chapters

01:41 Climate Impacts Unfolding in Fiji

04:54 Government-Led Planned Relocation Framework

08:17 The Concept of Vanua: Cultural Ties to Land

13:10 Community Concerns and Decision-Making Around Relocation

16:44 Fiji as a Regional Migration Destination

22:16 Policy Gaps and Research Priorities

Changing Climate, Changing Migration | How the World Is Learning to Respond Collectively to Climate Displacement Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

The coordinated global response to climate change-driven displacement is relatively new. Just a few decades ago, virtually no governments were paying attention to the ways in which people were being displaced by extreme weather, sea-level rise, and other climate events. Although the international response remains a work in progress, significant strides have been made to bring the world together.

One of the people responsible for that coordination is Walter Kälin, a longtime humanitarian expert and legal scholar who is now the Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement, a country-led initiative that works to protect people at risk of climate-related displacement. In this discussion, he breaks down where things stand today in terms of a coordinated response and how things might evolve in the future.

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Chapters

01:15 Evolution of Global Displacement Policy
06:45 Climate Change Enters the Displacement Agenda (2004–2010)
10:28 The Nansen Initiative and the Birth of the Platform on Disaster Displacement
17:55 Lessons Learned: Bottom-Up Over Top-Down Approaches
19:58 Navigating Declining Funding and Political Fragmentation
24:30 Advice for the Next Generation

World of Migration: Why Is Sudan's Humanitarian Crisis Largely Invisible? Jun 25, 2026

Show notes

Sudan is experiencing the world's largest displacement crisis, with nearly 14 million people forcibly displaced by civil war, famine, and acute food insecurity. Yet the scale of suffering has not translated into proportionate global attention or funding: the Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan remains only 10 percent funded, leaving a gap of more than $1.4 billion.

In this episode of World of Migration, John Thon Majok, Director of MPI's Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative, speaks with Margaret Monyani, Founder and Executive Director of the OLAM Africa Research Institute, about why Sudan's crisis has not been prioritized on the global stage. They discuss the regional spillover effects on neighbors such as Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt, as well as how foreign aid cuts are compounding the response gap. They also explore what a more effective and coordinated international response would require.

World of Migration: When Sports and U.S. Immigration Policy Collide Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

The FIFA 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, is the largest in history and first to be co-organized by three countries. Yet for international fans, ever stricter U.S. immigration admissions and enforcement policies have introduced layers of uncertainty around whether they can attend at all.

In this episode of World of Migration, host Ariel G. Ruiz Soto speaks with veteran sports journalist Albert Samaha about the World Cup and what its lessons might hold for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. They discuss how travel restrictions could affect fans and players from countries including Iran, Haiti, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire, fears of immigration enforcement on attendance, and what the World Cup experience may reveal ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Changing Climate, Changing Migration: Climate Change Is Making People Sick. Can Migration Help? May 26, 2026

Show notes

Climate change can be devastating for individuals’ health and safety. Climate-linked natural disasters can cause physical injuries and damage health-care systems, while slow-onset changes such as sea-level rise can lead to the spread of disease and make it harder for people to obtain care.

In that context, leaving a climate-vulnerable place can potentially lead to better health outcomes—but only under the right circumstances.

In this episode, we speak with Ilse Ruyssen, an economist at Ghent University and the UN University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, who leads the CliMigHealth research network.

Chapters

01:19 Health Vulnerability among Climate Migrants

05:13 Groups at Highest Risk

08:36 When Migration Protects Health

11:51 How Climate Change Directly Harms Health

17:02 Strain on Health-Care Systems

22:18 Countering the "Migrants as Health Risk" Narrative

25:48 Mental Health and Climate Displacement

27:48 What to Do?

World of Migration: America’s Closing Door: Where Do Cuban Migrants Go Now? May 18, 2026

Show notes

Cuba is facing one of its deepest economic crises in decades, and the United States has significantly narrowed the legal pathways that once made it the primary destination for Cuban migrants. As a result, migration patterns are shifting across the Americas in ways the region is not yet prepared to manage. In this episode of World of Migration, host Valerie Lacarte speaks with María José Espinosa Carrillo, Executive Director of Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas (CEDA), about Cuba's deteriorating conditions, the dismantling of preferential U.S. immigration protections, and where Cubans are heading now.

Changing Climate, Changing Migration | Priced Out: Climate Change, Home Insurance, and the People Stuck in the Middle Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

Climate change is making home insurance more expensive and less available, as the multibillion-dollar losses caused by hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters increase in scale. Rising insurance premiums can push some people to relocate or force others to either pay more money to remain in their home or go without insurance and risk catastrophe if disaster strikes. Residents, insurance companies, and policymakers in high-income countries are beginning to reckon with these issues and are working to find a way to adequately offset risk without charging exorbitant prices. This episode features Talley Burley, who analyzes climate risk and insurance at the Environmental Defense Fund.

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Chapters

02:17 How Climate Change Is Raising Insurance Costs
06:04 Hazards Driving Insurability Concerns
07:38 Insurance Costs as a Driver of Migration
09:49 Climate Entrapment and Equity Issues
15:13 Policy Solutions: Adaptation, Building Codes and Wraparound Services
18:52 The National Flood Insurance Program: Origins and Trade-offs
26:00 Hurricane Sandy: Lessons in Recovery and Relocation

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