Over 40,000 acres burned. 25 lives lost. 12,000 buildings reduced to cinders. The Los Angeles fires—devastating, deadly, and the costliest in U.S. history—tell the story of a city, a country, and a planet buffeted by intersecting threats. (The right, of course, thinks it's a story of DEI and limousine liberals.)
At the center of it all is climate change, an existential crisis which accelerates and exacerbates all others. A hotter, more unpredictable planet means resource scarcity. It means turbocharged weather events. And it fuels immigration, as people the world over seek refuge from the worst impacts of this global crisis.
As Los Angeles was colonized over the previous centuries, the abandonment of indigenous fire control practices has multiplied the threat from historic drought. Prisoners make up one third of the firefighting force in California, making a fraction of what other firefighters are paid. And despite the incessant demonization they've faced from nearly all quarters of U.S. society, immigrants, documented and undocumented alike, formed volunteer citizen firefighting bodies to help their neighbors.
The story of these Los Angeles fires is a story of great importance to those of us who care about immigrant rights—it's a story of the vital role immigrants play in our community.