A de-facto USA enlargement

When we read that in the greater Washington metropolitan area alone, there already are 550.000 persons who come from El Salvador, there can be no doubt whatsoever that the Central American countries are already a de-facto part of an extended USA Commonwealth. Put another way, the USA—surreptitiously perhaps—has gone through its own European-style enlargement. This demographic fact shows that the current debate in the USA on immigration reform could benefit by being split into two parts: immigration reform as such; and a debate about some laws and regulations affecting cohabitation in a commonwealth. Doing so would allow urgent reforms to proceed more constructively and keep the debates from being taken hostage by extreme proposals like building new Maginot Lines or Berlin Walls.

Not long ago, some enemies of the recently negotiated CAFTA agreement started spreading rumors that, through it, the United States had accepted conditions that in effect bypassed current immigration laws. This is not true, far from it. However, perhaps the CAFTA negotiations were indeed the perfect opportunity to start open and transparent discussions about what I call the de-facto enlargement of the USA. As it is, trying to look for solutions to some huge but still quite particular problems through a general immigration law is really picking the wrong instrument of change.

By the way, if I were a truly desperate builder of a wall to surround the United States, looking at the map, I would perhaps have to settle with some water barriers such as the Bering Strait and the Panama Canal.

Sent to Washington Post, April 2005, destiny unknown

migration Cafta border

We need a more win-win CAFTA

Sir, You rightly lend your support to the Central American free trade agreement, CAFTA, especially since not doing so would make it seem like you are joining the ranks of those opposed to free trade and also because in today’s world any relations are always better than none. Nevertheless, you need to reflect more closely on the reasons why it is so difficult for CAFTA to gain general acceptance and why, if finally approved, it might not be able to deliver on its promises.

CAFTA, as all trade negotiations in vogue, concentrates basically on how to split the ever shrinking cake of manufacturing and agriculture; how to impose a stricter respect for the intellectual property rights of the developed nations; and how to be able to enforce it, but, as often happens, it shies away from treating the issues that really seem to matter for the future. When currently 40% of Central America’s workforce works abroad, mostly in the US, mostly in services, it should be clear that it is really in the area of services and immigrations that these two partners need better and more generous free trade pacts. For instance instead of exchanging a few textile jobs that could soon anyhow be lost to other places of the world, why do not the partners look for economic growth and jobs in areas such as health and attending the needs of the rapidly aging population. That seems much more like a win-win CAFTA to me.

CAFTA services