WASHINGTON – In a span of two weeks, Florida endured two hurricanes, forcing immigrant communities to overcome storm preparations and recovery hurdles amidst language barriers, infrastructure challenges and a pervasive distrust of law enforcement.
Many of Florida’s foreign-born residents are farmworkers living in the rural heart of the state who found themselves directly in the path of Hurricane Milton — the second of two recent storms that prompted state officials to issue evacuation orders due to potentially life-threatening conditions.
According to a report by American Immigration Council, a Washington-based advocacy group, about 21.6 percent of Florida’s residents are foreign-born, and 9.9 percent of its U.S.-born residents live with at least one immigrant parent.
Ahmed Gaya, director of the Climate Justice Collaborative at the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), said that immigrant communities can be vulnerable to natural disasters due to several factors. Many live in flood-prone areas with poor drainage mechanisms, and these regions often lack political influence, leading to underinvestment in climate resilience efforts.
The biggest challenge, according to Gaya, is the language barrier.
U.S. Census Data reveals that Floridians communicate in over 130 languages, with nearly 30 percent of households using a non-English language as their primary language at home. This, coupled with limited access to the internet and television, contributes to a lack of critical information and unsafe conditions for immigrants during extreme weather events.
“When it comes to preparation, very little of the information about disaster preparation is in a language accessible to limited English proficiency speakers. We find that a lack of language access, even in things like emergency warnings and evacuation orders, is a major concern for a lot of our residents,” Gaya said.
Statutory limitations and political skepticism make the process more complex for immigrants than citizens born in the US during relief efforts.
Many people are excluded from recovery benefits because of their immigration status, and some who qualify may hesitate to seek help due to misinformation or confusion about available resources. Gaya noted that there’s also a strong distrust of law enforcement and government institutions within these communities — especially among mixed-status families.
In terms of ongoing recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, mutual-aid efforts are key for immigrant communities.
“A lot of folks living in mobile homes or in industry-provided housing have lost their homes and don’t have recourse to any kind of state or federal recovery efforts that other residents in Florida have recourse to,” Gaya said.
Alongside concerns about relief from storm damage, recent allegations of improper FEMA fund distribution have put both government employees and immigrant communities at risk of threats.
Republican lawmakers, along with former President Donald Trump, have raised concerns about FEMA disaster funds being diverted to border-related issues — a claim denied by both FEMA and the Biden administration.
On Oct. 2, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged a FEMA funding shortfall, which prompted Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee to take action. The group wrote to Mayorkas, questioning whether the $61.2 billion allocated for disaster relief in 2023-2024 had been properly prioritized. They plan to investigate if any of the funds were redirected to migrant services.
“The Committee is concerned the agency’s mission has been radically expanded under the Biden-Harris administration’s reckless open-borders agenda,” Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in a statement.
FEMA updated its Hurricane Rumor Response page, stating that no disaster funds have been wrongfully diverted.
David Becker, an election law expert and Executive Director of The Center for Election Innovation and Research, said that voters should anticipate disinformation as “the new normal.”
“It’s incredibly depressing that there are domestic actors, political leaders and candidates who are actively spreading disinformation that is fueling anger and delusion among many Americans, and we should expect that this will be exacerbated by the outcomes in certain states,” Becker said.
