The White Advocate’s Case for Julián Castro’s 21st Century Central American ‘Marshall Plan’

Julián Castro (Credit Image: © Robin Jerstad / ZUMA Wire)

Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro wants a “Marshall Plan” for Central America. His proposals are what you would expect from a non-white, leftist politician.

Yet his purpose is to reduce the need for immigration by developing Central American countries. “Challenges in governance and economic development have consequences to migration to the United States,” his platform states. He wants to allow “individuals to build a life in their communities rather than make a dangerous journey leaving their homes.”

Why should Americans be forced to fund foreign, hostile, and dysfunctional nations? There’s no moral obligation. Yet maintaining a secure border is costly. There’s a practical case that we may save more money by spending on Central Americans within their own countries than spending on “migrants” here.

A development plan focused on the “Northern Triangle” of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras seems feasible. Those three countries have a combined population of about 34 million people, and a total land mass of about 150,000 square miles. That’s about one-tenth the population of the United States, concentrated within an area about the size of Montana. Even a small amount of aid and military cooperation against the cartels could have a massive impact. Americans could also fund and build the large prisons needed to detain foreign gangs within their own countries.

Foreign aid should come with strings attached, such as the right to assist Mexico in securing its border with Guatemala. That is the first barrier most Central Americans face in getting to the US. At just over one fourth the length of the Mexican-American border, (their lengths are 541 and 1,954 miles, respectively), securing it should not prove too arduous.

Of course, Mr. Castro also wants to “re-establish the Central American Minors program,” which would allow “individuals in the United States to petition for their minor children residing in Central America to apply for resettlement in the U.S. while their applications are pending.” He clearly doesn’t want an immigration moratorium.

However, increased prosperity, decreased crime, and better governance in Central America will reduce the flow of migrants here. Mr. Castro is implicitly calling for a kind of soft colonialism. That may be the best approach.

Obviously, I don’t think white advocates (or anyone else) should back Mr. Castro’s candidacy. Yet Mr. Castro is offering something beyond boilerplate rhetoric about abolishing ICE, establishing amnesty, and inviting the world.

Perhaps that’s the best we can hope for within the Democratic party. More importantly, nationalists also need to offer solutions about stopping the migration problem at its source.