A North American Community
3 April 2006

In an editorial in the March 27 international edition of Newsweek, CCD Board Member and Vice President of International Affairs at American University, Robert Pastor, calls for the US, Canada, and Mexico to form a North American Community for economic and security reasons.

The formation of a North American Community, Pastor argues, offers the only real long term solution to illegal immigration to the US.   He asserts that until jobs pay more in Mexico, Mexicans will continue the journey to the United States looking for work.  Pastor explains, “Roughly 90 percent of all Mexican illegal immigrants leave jobs to come to the United States; they seek higher wages. Illegal immigration is unlikely to shrink until the income gap begins to narrow.”

Pastor urges North Americans to learn from the experiences of the EU regarding immigration.  He writes,

When the European Union added Greece, Spain and Portugal as member countries in the 1980s, it channeled massive amounts of aid to these newcomers and Ireland to narrow the income gap separating them from more-prosperous nations like Germany and France.  About half of the $500 billion in aid was spent unwisely; the best investments were in roads and communications linking these four countries to richer markets. Between 1986 and 2003, the per capita GDP of the four nations rose from 65 percent of the average EU member country's economic output to 82 percent. Spain spent much of the $120 million it received on new roads that boosted commerce and tourism. As a result, Spanish immigration to other EU countries all but ceased. Ireland now ranks as the second richest member of the EU in per capita terms—and for the first time in its history, it is actually receiving rather than sending immigrants.

Pastor suggests that the Mexico, the US and Canada should spend $200 billion to improve the infrastructure of southern Mexico in order to connect it to broader markets.  Half of the funding would come from Mexico, 40% from the US, and ten percent from Canada.  Pastor maintains that investment in Mexico will “also benefit the U.S. economically”, and notes that the $80 billion would be equivalent to just one third of the Iraq War’s costs.

Additionally, he argues that a North American Community could provide enhanced security.  The creation of a broader security perimeter around the entire region “would… supplement rather than replace existing border-protection systems.”