Strangely, Castañeda's argument is that NAFTA hasn't worked to slow illegal immigration, so we should move towards NAFTA plus. Also note how the article calls this vision of North American economic integration a "grand bargain", a term which originated with Canadian Alan Gotlieb.

Security, immigration linked

San Antonio Express-News

[subscription; posted here for fair use only]

06/05/2005

Mariano Castillo

links:

Original article

article as reposted to Free Republic

For the U.S., Mexico and Canada, a secure and prosperous future hinges on an increased level of integration that would create a type of "North American Economic Community," Mexican presidential hopeful Jorge Castañeda told reporters during a speech in San Antonio on Saturday.

"I think the best possible alternative (to the status quo in North American relations) is an intensifying of NAFTA in the direction of a European Economic Community," said Castañeda, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Economic Community, a treaty that worked toward the economic integration of several European nations and laid a foundation for the European Union.

Castañeda, who was secretary of foreign affairs of Mexico from 2000 to 2003, made his remarks to a group of about 25 journalists and other guests of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, which hosted its annual Transatlantic Journalists Forum outside of Washington or Europe for the first time.

Organizers said the forum's focus on immigration and borders made San Antonio a prime location for discussion.

Castañeda's vision is that the three nations can strike a "grand bargain" by tackling each country's most vexing problems simultaneously.

"The central issue is that the problems we face have not been solved by NAFTA," he said.

In its current form, NAFTA hasn't worked as its architects hoped, he said.

Productivity and growth rates for Mexico have been mediocre, and contrary to U.S. hopes, illegal immigration has reached an all-time high.

"It makes sense," Castañeda said. "The Mexican economy doesn't grow, the U.S. economy does grow, and well, people leave. It's not rocket science."

Another approach would be to take the biggest current issues — such as homeland security and immigration — and try to solve them from a North American perspective, rather than one country's, he said.

So if the U.S. wants Mexico's cooperation to secure its borders from terrorists, and Mexico wants the U.S.' help to ease the flow of migrants north and south of the border, there is an incentive to work together, Castañeda argued.

"Without security, nothing is sellable to the U.S., but without immigration, nothing is sellable to Mexico," Castañeda said.

He rapped the Bush administration's lack of urgency in reforming immigration.

He characterized the American perspective like this: "The migrants who come, come; the ones who die, die; the ones who are sent back are sent back, and they try again; and, what the hell, there's no real reason for changing something which does not seem in itself to be an unmanageable situation."

There should be urgency for immigration reform because America's security is tied to it, he said.

Terrorists will come to the same conclusion that the Mexican border is the easiest way to enter the U.S.

With more integration, Americans could have a more direct hand in screening passengers in Mexico before they reach the border.

"At some point, the security question will become a central one in the United States," Castañeda said. "The Mexican border is too porous from a security perspective."