Our Southern Border Policy Lacks Cohesion

By Karl Reiner

The U.S. government’s
effort to improve security along the Mexican border is delivering
results.  The combination of towers, physical barriers, better
intelligence and an increase in the number of agents has made the
crossing more difficult.  As a consequence, the number of arrests
made by the Border Patrol is down approximately 12%.

 

According to the Border
Patrol, 202,563 arrests were made in the Tucson Sector between
October 1, 2007 and April 30, 2008.  Of the apprehensions,
approximately 96% were Mexican nationals and about 3% came from
Central America.  While improved enforcement is slowing the rate of
illegal migration, the underlying causes remain to be addressed by
our reluctant national policymakers.

 

While focusing
attention exclusively on border control may generate a feeling of
real accomplishment in some political circles, it is akin to trying
to walk in the desert with only one boot on.   Because border defense
and economic issues are intertwined, we cannot continue to ignore the
other half of the problem.

 

The overall standard of
living in Mexico is about a quarter of the living standard in the
United States. The growing imbalance and the resulting lack of
opportunity fuels the need migrate in search of work.  Addressing the
economic problem has to be part of our overall strategy if we want to
achieve long-term success.

 

Infrastructure- poor
southern Mexico is stagnating.  While the northern part of the
country has mostly benefited from the impact of the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the southern part of the country has
not.  Nearly 50% of the population of Mexico’s southern states
– Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas – lives in extreme poverty.  In the
adjacent Central American countries things are no better; 30% to 50%
of the population is below the poverty line.

 

The United States has
long avoided pressuring the Mexican and Central American governments
into confronting the problems fostering migration.  Unless we decide
to act, southern Mexico and Central America will remain ensnared in a
poverty trap that cripples regional development and continues to
force people to head north to find work.

 

Mexico’s Ministry
of Agriculture estimates that only 6% of the nation’s farms are
highly efficient and profitable.  When NAFTA began, a program to help
small Mexican farmers switch from growing corn and coffee to more
profitable and labor intensive crops such as fruits and vegetables
was supposed to have been implemented.  Nothing much in the way of
support actually materialized; the funds apparently went to other
purposes. 

 

The governments of
Mexico and the Central American countries rely on a defacto policy of
exporting labor as an economic safety valve and as a major source of
national income.    A review of CIA and World Bank data reveals that
the remittances workers send back to Mexico are the country’s
second largest source (after oil) of foreign income.

 

In El Salvador, the
remittance inflow nearly equals the income generated by the nation’s
exports.  In Guatemala and Honduras, remittance income equals
two-thirds and three-fourths of the value of those nations’
exports.

 

By uncoupling the need
for economic progress from the issue of border security, we are
setting the stage for failure. If migrant workers can’t go
north while development at home remains stifled, instability and
political chaos will eventually result.  We face a stark choice. We
can start to push economic development and reform now, or plan to
deal with the more menacing problems that will develop in the future.

 

In 1950, with America’s
blessing, war-devastated Western Europe began to rebuild its economy
when France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands agreed
to form the European Coal and Steel Community.   From those humble
beginnings emerged what today has become the European Union (EU).

 

Over time, the EU has
developed into an economic powerhouse with 27 member states.  With a
population of nearly a half billion, it accounts for almost a third
of the world’s gross national product despite the fact that
more than 20 languages are spoken within its geographical boundaries.

 

Strangely, the EU the
current administration once considered irrelevant and out of touch
with modern military reality, also believes prosperous countries have
an obligation to help poorer and less developed nations if peace and
stability are to be maintained. We need to relearn that lesson, the
same one we taught to Europe at after World War II, and apply it to
our foreign policy south of the border.

 

Polls reveal that over
75 % of Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in
the United States. The president’s approval rating is in the
20% range.  Not to be outdone, Congress has managed to do worse, with
a dismal approval rating of 14%.

 

The consequences of a
terribly flawed war strategy, the lack of an energy policy and the
mediocre results delivered by world’s most expensive health
care system have made Americans apprehensive.

 

The situation is made
worse by the self-inflicted economic damage of the ongoing mortgage
debacle and the festering problems stemming from countries below our
southern border.  The governments of Mexico and Central America have
ignored the need for economic development for years.  The impact of
their failure to act has been compounded by a United States that
remains oblivious to the result.   

 

The next president will
have the unenviable job of trying to rejuvenate a malfunctioning
government while trying to salvage something from a host of failed
international policies.  Let’s hope he also gets a Congress
more inclined to face reality rather then wallowing in political
platitudes.