A massive development fund aimed at closing the wage-gap between Mexico and the United States is the only way to decrease the flow of illegal-immigrants crossing the border, according to a panel of experts convened yesterday at AU.
"The biggest reason [for crossing into the U.S.] is better income," said Dr. Robert Pastor, director of the Center for North American Studies at AU, which hosted the panel. "Cross the border and you can earn 30 times as much."
In order to keep Mexican workers employed in Mexico, Pastor has proposed creating a North American investment fund - similar to a program used by the European Union to equalize economic growth - which would pump roughly $200 billion into the Mexican economy. The idea is to spur construction of roads, bridges and highways that would make doing business in the poor southern region of Mexico more attractive, thereby keeping workers from moving north and subsequently crossing the border.
So far the proposal has gained little support in the U.S.
"The problem is that people aren't conscious about integration," Pastor said, "it takes a vision, a commitment, and an ability to explain it to the American people."
This has been part of the mission of the Center, founded by Pastor when he arrived at AU in September 2002. The Center offers an undergraduate minor or a graduate certificate in North American studies. AU is one of only a handful of colleges promoting the study of the integration happening between Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
While these political and social connections might be hard to register for most Americans, some AU students have experienced it first-hand.
There's a town near Mexico City called San Miguel Allende where America retirees live and teach English to Mexican children, said Julio Gonzalez, a first-year doctoral student in the College of Arts and Sciences. "It's an example of how integration is happening."
People need to be prepared for what further integration of the continent would mean, Gonzalez said, so that "it is smooth and we can get the benefits of it"
