One good step would be to expand the U.S. commitment to liberating impoverished countries from the stranglehold of extreme debts.
In 2005, President George W. Bush joined other leaders in wiping away the foreign debts of 18 countries, most of them in Africa. Others should now be included, particularly the heavily indebted countries that are leading sources of undocumented migrants.
One beneficiary should be El Salvador, which is second after Mexico as a source of undocumented migrants. This small nation is strapped with more than $7 billion in foreign debts, accumulated in part under a brutal military government. Lifting that burden would give El Salvador a better chance of providing the basic services and opportunities that would reduce migration pressures.
Honduras, the fifth-largest source of undocumented migrants, has even more staggering debts, amounting to 83 percent of GNP. That country has used effectively the limited debt relief it has already received to provide three extra years of public education for its children. But more help is needed.
Mexico's some $140 billion foreign debt is one of the world's largest. Although the government has made some progress in managing this burden, further debt relief would go a long way towards helping our neighbor reduce the grinding poverty that drives so many to risk crossing the border.
Abolishing or renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement could also help. That deal has been devastating for Mexican farmers who have had to compete with a flood of heavily subsidized corn imports. It also prevents the Mexican government from putting conditions on U.S. investment that would benefit the domestic economy.
For example, it is illegal under NAFTA to require that investors use a certain amount of local supplies in production processes.
Once migrants arrive in the United States, they deserve respect for the contributions they make to American society. Given a choice, however, most people would prefer to stay home. Helping to create the opportunities that will give more people that choice is a far better solution than building a Fortress America.
Source: Sarah Anderson, Commondreams.org, "Immigration Solutions Lie Beyond Our Borders," May 26, 2006. Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC, and is the co-author of Field Guide to the Global Economy (New Press, 2005).
