Alternative to Trump's Wall

poor georgie’s almanack

Are we ready to talk about a cheaper Central American immigration solution? 

Many, if not most, US foreign aid projects are created to appeal to domestic voting groups.    

Are we ready to talk about a cheaper Central American immigration solution? 

Many, if not most, US foreign aid projects are created to appeal to domestic voting groups.   

That was the big reveal during the first few weeks of my 1963 assignment to publicize a “feeding” program for poor kids in Latin American.  Its was part of the “Food For Peace” effort.  The name was revealing.

For decades American policy has been to spend a minuscule amount of our tax money to fund foreign aid projects run by US firms and nonprofits.  We also would do whatever seemed necessary to keep just about all of those desperate people out of US territory.  

Meanwhile, Dept. of Agriculture programs boosted farm production with subsidies that raised production levels.  Then, the foreign aid agency would get rid of surpluses like grains, milk and butter, hopefully before they spoiled.     

I was not an expert in any of that.  I was a flack (press agent) … but, a flack with journalistic and broader public relations experience and with a drive to do good, if possible.  Figuring out what really was happening was important to me.  It still is. 

So, now fast-forward to the current Trump proposal that would pay billions of tax dollars to US contractors (his industry) to build a very long southern wall.   

The wall undoubtedly would involve bribes and payoffs of other kinds to the constructors, the mafias behind some of them, local governments on the north side of the structure, plus huge tax-funded grants to politicians’ favorite projects.  But, that would help keep the tax money and jobs in the USA.

Thus, I suggest somebody, or some body such as a think tank, start discussing a policy to pay well-thought-out bribes directly to the Central American and Mexican gangs to stop the terror behind the mass exodus to the southern bank of the Rio Grande River.  Maybe we could throw in a few jobs for the unemployed gang members.

A program to fight the problem where it begins has worked before.  As president of The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) board of directors, I played a small supporting role in in the bribe-like process during the mid-1990s.  PADF is one of those Washington, DC nonprofits mostly funded by money from governments.

At that time southern politicians and many of their constituents feared a tsunami of desperate dark skinned Haitians willing to get on rickety, drowning-worthy, boats and seek asylum along the beautiful beaches of Florida.  Just like lighter skinned Cubans had done.  PADF was chosen to run a project that, as I recall, paid tens of thousands of unemployed Haitians to do real work, like fixing roads and cleaning up trash.  While it existed, we were the largest employer in the island country. 

Don’t be a silly goose … of course the obvious bribery was controversial.  But, in hindsight, it seemed to have worked just as US policy makers hoped, until the funding ran out.

In a nutshell, politicians and other policy makers thought it would be a lot cheaper to provide some benefits to alleviate the problem at its core, in Haiti, than to create some kind of a long barrier around the US southern border … maybe building hundreds or thousands of Coast Guard ships, and manning them?  The Haitian bribes, aka workers pay, served a controversial political purpose, just like a Trump wall would serve an equally, or more, controversial political purpose.  

But, much, much cheaper.  

(cartoon michele paccione)