Most of us are frustrated by the illegal immigrant problems we face here in the United States and the unwillingness of our government to solve it. Most of us will agree that the problems are many, complex, and political. They may be unsolvable; I suspect they will never be solved. So just for the fun of it, and trying to think out of the box, consider the following - could this be feasible?
It is 2025, five years ago the United States, unable to solve illegal migration through the Mexican border, and the government of Mexico, despairing of its ability to provide adequate opportunity for its people reached an agreement to annex the State of Mexico as a commonwealth of the United States as outlined below with a five year transition phase.
The nation of Mexico agrees to annex as a commonwealth of the United States with the following conditions:
The Mexican commonwealth government will continue to govern its several states. These states will be considered as independent states as are the states of the United States. They will remain under the authority of the Mexican commonwealth until and if they are annexed as states of the United States. The Mexican government (hereafter the Commonwealth) further agrees to abide by the constitution of the United States and the federal laws of the United States.
The Commonwealth will have a forum within the United States federal government in a form to be decided later during the transition.
The individual states that border the United States will have the opportunity to request US statehood after the five year transition phase. The remaining states will remain within the Commonwealth under this agreement until they apply for annexation and the United States and Commonwealth agree to the transition. (It may be impractical for Commonwealth states to become states of the United States if other Commonwealth states lay between them and the United States).
Interstate commerce between the Commonwealth states and the states of the US will be governed as is now applicable within the United States.
The Commonwealth may retain Spanish as its legal language however the individual states, upon annexation to the United States must select English as their legal language. The Commonwealth and its several states may retain their own culture even upon acceptance into the Unites States. The Commonwealth’s flag may be flown within the Commonwealth as the predominant flag.
The Commonwealth may have its own military force to protect itself, however it will be for defense purposes only and subject to the United States federal authority. (Similar to our states national guard.)
During the transition phase, U.S. federal courts will be established within the individual Commonwealth states. However, appeal to these courts will be limited allowing the Commonwealth’s federal courts to make the transition to our federal court system. At the end of the transition period, the duties of the Commonwealth federal courts will be merged and fall under the jurisdiction of the US federal court system. The Commonwealth federal court system will remain in effect as superior court of the Commonwealth court system. Appeals may be made to the United States Supreme Court; the principle argument for appeals to the United States Supreme Court from the Commonwealth states is that the Commonwealth Supreme Court is in violation of the United States constitution.
Comments:
Concerns
1. There will be mass movements of Commonwealth citizens into the United States when all barriers are removed. During the transition this will be true but not to a large extent. Once that mass movement has been assimilated the problem will no longer exist. The mass migration is already taking place and is being felt in all states and we are incapable of stopping it. Further, we have had many previous mass migrations. The Midwestern migration to California during the thirties. The several mass migrations from the European nations during the 1800s.
2. This will place a great tax burden on the people of the United States with the migration. This is true but is it any different than the burden we are now faced with? With Commonwealth citizens moving to the U.S. they will be paying taxes rather than the under the table economy that exists today.
3. The increase of the Spanish population of the United States will affect the dynamics of our elections.
4. The additional states will be a burden on our Supreme Court, requiring a change in the size and function of the court.
Benefits
1. Corporations will be able to freely move to Mexico for the cheap labor. This will also reduce the migration to the current United States when adequate jobs are provided within the Commonwealth.
2. The cost of trying to limit mass immigration will be removed or greatly reduced.
3. It will be harder for drug traffic to move across the borders of the Commonwealth and into the United States
4. The natural resources of Mexico can be better developed when trade flows freely between the Commonwealth and the United States.
5. The corrupt government of Mexico and its several states will be reduced and/or eliminated when US federal laws take effect.
2030. The transition has been successful.
Several Commonwealth states have applied for American statehood and been accepted. The United States now consists of 54 states. English is now the legal language of the United States. Those Commonwealth states that have been accepted into the United States are prosperous. The Commonwealth and states remaining therein within are developing their own resources with the aid of the U.S. With aid from the United States the average living standards of the Commonwealth people has improved remarkably.
John Sullivan
1 comment:
JohnS: Thanks for posting a very interesting new Topic!
Rather than try to stem the flow of illegals northward from Mexico, perhaps we do have to "think outside the box" and consider flowing the US southward to incorporate Mexico as a self-governning Commonwealth, something like Puerto Rico!
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has been in place for about a dozen years and has helped ease trade between Canada, the US, and Mexico. Perhaps, as you suggest, in another dozen or two years, the US and Mexico should further integrate our economies and even our political ties.
NAFTA could be extended further, using the European Union as a good model.
You also suggest that the Mexican states that are adjacent to the US could eventually become states of the US. The population of Mexico is about one-third that of the US and they have 31 states in their federal system. Since their states have populations that are smaller than the average US state, perhaps some of them could be combined if and when they join the US.
Similarly, Canada, with a population about a tenth of the US, could be incorporated by combining some of their 13 provinces and territories to make them approximately equal to the average US state.
Within a couple decades, I think nearly all Mexicans will speak English as a second language, and many Americans will speak Spanish as a second language, so the language issue will not be a great obstacle. The European Union has 23 official languages, but conducts most business in English, French, and German.
The real question is: Will Mexico (and Canada) go along with the plan? I think, within a decade or so, as the economy of Mexico expands and modernizes, and as the economies of Canada, the US, and Mexico become nearly totally integrated, the peoples of all three countries will go along with the plan to combine forces to better compete in the globalized world.
Ira Glickstein
Post a Comment