Economy

Poor Latino Immigrants Breathe the Worst Air in the Country

Their neighborhoods are most exposed to cancer-causing air toxins.
A teenage girl walks around the track of a park in the Manchester neighborhood of Houston.AP Photo/Pat Sullivan

Contaminated water, dry wells, polluted air, no groceries or doctors for miles: As CityLab has chronicled before, the list of health hazards that poor, unincorporated communities of color in California’s San Joaquin Valley live with goes on and on.

Yet stark environmental injustice is hardly limited to California. All over the United States, those who live amid the highest levels cancerous air toxins are disadvantaged Latino immigrants who don’t speak English.