The Trump administration ignored research compiled last year by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showing that crop shortages — caused, in part, by climate change — are behind record numbers of immigrants coming from Guatemala to the U.S., according to news reports Friday.
"Everyone knows [White House senior adviser Stephen] Miller isn't interested in hearing about climate change," a Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News.
Miller, 34, who served as communications director for former Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has strongly championed tougher immigration laws.
A senior federal law enforcement official also told NBC: "There is a root cause of migration.
"But the question presupposes that if you know there's a refugee crisis related to climate change, you should do something about it."
According to an internal CBP report obtained by NBC, immigrants fled portions of Guatemala that have long relied on subsistence or commercial farming jobs.
Those areas, whose major crops include coffee, have been hit by plant fungi and a longstanding drought that scientists say are tied to climate change.
More than 100,000 Guatemalans fled to the U.S. last year, NBC reports, with "many more" crossing in fiscal year 2019.
The numbers make Guatemala the single-largest country from which immigrants have fled this year.
The CBP document was based on interviews with individuals at the border, "where they are routinely asked to be as specific as possible about where they are from," NBC reports.
However, President Donald Trump instead has chosen to address Guatemalan immigration by freezing or reprogramming foreign aid — as much as $600 million in recent fiscal years — to Central America and by working with the country's government to "stem the flow of immigrants through law enforcement means," NBC reports.
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