PBS News Weekend

Tens of thousands have migrated to the U.S. Thousands of arrivals from the Marshall Islands enjoy the benefit of a U.S. law that gives them the right to live and work here without visas and work permits. It's estimated that about a third of the population of the Marshall Islands already has left a country reeling from high unemployment rates and the looming effects of climate change, which threatens the existence of the low-lying pacific archipelago located midway between Hawaii and Australia. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Mike Taibbi reports from the Marshall Islands and Salem, Oregon, one of several U.S. destinations for the Marshallese. This story is part of an ongoing series called "Chasing the Dream," which reports on poverty and opportunity in America, and was funded in part by Pacific Islanders in Communications.