O’Rourke calls on Trump to grant protected status to migrants fleeing Dorian damage

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), a 2020 presidential hopeful, on Wednesday called on the Trump administration to waive visa requirements for people displaced by Hurricane Dorian.

In a statement, the O’Rourke campaign said the damage from the storm, which killed at least 20 people in the Bahamas, was exacerbated by the administration’s environmental policies.

{mosads}“His administration’s failure to take action on climate change and its continuous rollbacks of environmental protections have left communities vulnerable to storms increasing in intensity and frequency like Hurricane Dorian,” O’Rourke said in the statement.

“It’s on Donald Trump and the United States of America to put the health and safety of people first and to step up to provide aid and refuge to those whose livelihoods have been destroyed by Dorian,” he added.

In his statement, O’Rourke also calls on the administration to grant temporary protected status to anyone facing long-term displacement in the wake of the hurricane if the Bahamian government initiates the request.

President Trump said earlier this week that the U.S. is “sending crews to help” the Bahamas in the wake of the storm, while the U.S. Agency for International Development said Tuesday that the U.S. has sent a disaster response team to the islands.