Politics In The Time Of Global Pandemic – Forum Network Series – Migrants, Refugees, & Fragile States — The Humanitarian Crisis & COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is having devastating consequences for countries around the world. Refugees and migrants face challenges similar to, but even more dire than those of many of their host populations. Already impacted by massive disruption in their lives, including greater levels of food insecurity, poverty, and woefully inadequate access to essential services that would help mitigate the health crisis, refugees and migrants face a grim future. Unfortunately, these fragile populations are often invisible in their suffering.

Propublica immigration reporter Dara Lind hosts a discussion with Douglas S. Massey, an expert on international migration at Princeton University, Suffolk Dean and global engagement expert Maria Toyada, clinical professor of law at Suffolk Ragini Shah, and Adriana Lafaille, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts dealing with immigration detention and immigrants’ rights issues. Together they look at how the pandemic is exacerbating these issues. They consider how the crisis will fuel greater conflict around the world, as prices rise and incomes fall, and how it may create a call to action to increase health and social protections.