In response to the border crisis, President Biden has pledged to address the “root causes” of illegal immigration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the so-called Northern Triangle nations of Central America. It’s important to note that this would be a long-term project which, even if successful, would not address the immediate border crisis.
The president has promised $4 billion in additional economic assistance to the region, but a detailed plan has not been made public for what the funds will target, how funds will be allocated, what regions will be emphasized, and how long it will take before migration will be impacted.
In this report, we explore how the proposed economic assistance funds could be best used to target the root causes of illegal immigration, emphasizing the need for a data-driven plan that would include a Covid-19 vaccination program, an export-expansion program, crime control and family-planning efforts, and a cash payment program for people who agree, on pain of imprisonment, not to go to the U.S. We also put forth a funding idea: A wire transfer fee paid only by those who subsequently fail to file complete tax returns.
A Biden Plan for the Northern Triangle: A Shot in the Arm
Part 1 of 7
By David North
The Biden administration is struggling with mass incursions on the southern border as many from the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras seek to improve their own lives (but not the lives of others) by breaking our immigration laws. Read Full Article
A Biden Plan for the Northern Triangle: We Need More Data
Part 2 of 7
By David North
Before the president’s proposed economic assistance plan for the three nations producing the would-be migrants at the southern border can be devised, we need to know more about the people who have made the trek across the length of Mexico.
Read Full Article
A Biden Plan for the Northern Triangle: More Exports to the U.S.?
Part 3 of 7
By David North
Today, we review what the Northern Triangle countries are now exporting, to see if it would be possible to expand those exports (perhaps by reducing our imports from other parts of the globe). Read Full Article
A Biden Plan for the Northern Triangle: Crime Control
Part 4 of 7
By David North
Clearly crime and gangs play a major role in motivating people from the Northern Triangle countries of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) to seek entry to the U.S. How important this factor is from one place to another remains to be seen, but the basic numbers are worrisome, particularly in El Salvador, which tops the list of all nations in the world with its murder rate per 100,000 residents. Here are the most recent murder rates: Read Full Article
Birth Control and the Infrastructure
By David North
Part 5 of 7
This part of our proposed Biden Plan for the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras relates to the need for more access to birth control in those countries, as well as a brief discussion of other traditional long-term development strategies. The next will deal with a cash payment plan to discourage emigration immediately, and the last with how to fund all of these activities, at minimal cost to law-abiding taxpayers. Read Full Article
Cash Payments
By David North
Part 6 of 7
Virtually everything we have discussed earlier relates to long-term strategies to make the nations of the Northern Triangle (NT: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) more attractive places to live, thus discouraging illegal migration to the U.S. Earlier posts covered the need for more information about those seeking entry, the planned increases in exports, desired decreases in crime and birth rates, and the better utilization of more USAID dollars. Read Full Article
Helping to Fund It
By David North
Part 7 of 7
We have outlined a series of programs designed to make the three countries in Central America’s Northern Triangle more attractive places to live, thus easing the current pressure on the southern border. The program as a whole, by recent standards of government expenditures, is not costly, but we have a suggestion as to how to meet the Biden Plan’s continuing costs. Read Full Article
