Fire and ICE

As wildfires ravage Southern California, particularly in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, it’s hard to ignore the profound connection between environmental justice and immigration policy. These fires are more than a reminder of the worsening climate crisis—they expose the intersectional challenges faced by immigrant communities in the Inland Empire. With the region hosting a disproportionate number of prisons, immigration detention centers, and warehouses, the most vulnerable residents are at the mercy of both climate change and a punitive immigration system.

The recent fires in San Bernardino and Riverside counties have led to massive evacuations and destruction of land, but the impact on immigrant communities is often less visible. Immigrant workers, many of whom are undocumented, are disproportionately affected by climate-related disasters. They frequently work in industries like agriculture, warehousing, and construction—sectors exposed to poor air quality, extreme heat, and toxic pollutants exacerbated by wildfires.

From farmworkers, to warehouse employees, to those locked behind bars in the Inland Empire, many lack access to healthcare, proper safety equipment, or protections to ensure they aren’t forced to work in dangerous conditions. Wildfires and the accompanying smoke lead to toxic air, exacerbating respiratory illnesses in a region already known for some of the worst air pollution in the country.

Hotbox Effect

The Inland Empire is a hub for warehouses and prisons, with more of these facilities concentrated here than in most parts of the United States. There is a deeply racist, white supremacist history behind this but you’ll just have to take my word for it as we’ll save that conversation for a future blog. These extractive industries that warehouse and jail people, contribute to environmental degradation, creating a cycle of pollution that disproportionately harms working-class immigrant communities. 

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that the state has no problem exposing undocumented workers to harmful conditions for the sake of their almighty dollar. With no access to unemployment benefits, Immigrant workers kept the lights on as the world shut down for nearly two years. The state called them heroes and moved on. As the climate crisis burns through the IE, the lights are still on and yet the most vulnerable workers and their exigent sacrifice are ignored by the state and ruling class. To them, fulfilling Amazon Prime orders is more important than the health of your lungs. 

Our pueblo needs to be unified in the call for improving and ensuring immigrant workers are provided with protections against climate-related hazards. This includes ensuring access to healthcare, proper working conditions, and the right to refuse unsafe work without the fear of retaliation.

Simultaneously, we need to march on the path towards transitioning from a warehouse/logistics based economy to a green economy that would not only protect the environment but also create healthier and higher quality jobs for immigrant communities. 

Old Trees and New Seeds

The existence of prisons and immigration detention centers in the Inland Empire is not only an issue of human rights but also a form of environmental violence. These facilities perpetuate harm on multiple levels—both to the individuals confined within them and to the surrounding communities. Detention centers and prisons are inherently unsustainable, contributing to pollution, land degradation, and the exploitation of vulnerable populations. 

The physical infrastructure of these facilities disrupts ecosystems, while the overuse of resources like water and energy compounds the environmental damage. Dismantling these institutions is not only a step toward greater environmental sustainability but also a necessary response to the broader climate crisis, which disproportionately impacts marginalized communities.

As abolitionists, we believe prisons and detention centers are tools of state violence that exacerbate the same inequities driving the climate crisis. Immigrant detainees, often criminalized for seeking refuge or work, are housed in facilities that expose them to dangerous environmental conditions without adequate protection. These institutions prioritize punishment over rehabilitation or restoration, neglecting the humanity of incarcerated individuals while simultaneously degrading the environment around them.

Closing detention centers and prisons in the IE is a crucial step toward reducing environmental harm and ending the cycle of exploitation and violence against immigrant communities. Abolition is not just about tearing down harmful systems but building new, life-affirming alternatives. Redirecting resources away from detention and incarceration, and toward community-based, restorative justice approaches, would reduce the environmental footprint of these facilities while creating a pathway toward justice and healing for immigrants and their families.

In this way, the climate crisis and punitive immigration policies are inextricably linked. Both are rooted in systems of exploitation and dehumanization. Addressing the climate crisis requires us to dismantle the structures that harm both people and the planet, beginning with the closure of detention centers and prisons that disproportionately target immigrants and communities of color.