Pipelines may be more effective than a wall in reducing illegal immigration

What drives migration? How can it be deterred? Moreover, should it be deterred? These questions concern the US and Mexico, and due to recent creative developments by certain US state and local legislators, they have also become an issue for Canada. However, questions of such nature are being framed in a way that does a disservice to reality.

Opportunity, or the lack thereof, drives immigration. When people can live a better life, they migrate to provide better opportunities to their children.? Some are forced to do so due to the lack of opportunity where they live; others choose to do so to improve a quality of life that may already be acceptable but could be better.

I was born and raised in Canada but have migrated to ten countries for better opportunities for myself and my children. My family’s experiences are in no way comparable to the experiences of hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans who have moved first to Northern Mexico and then across the border to the US; they are doing so in search of basic opportunities.

The experience of so many is shockingly similar – there is a lack of opportunity at home, and they realize that by moving only a ten to twelve hour drive away, they can increase their income by a factor of four or even ten times and have a much better possibility of working.? Typically, this consists of someone moving from Southern Mexico to the industrial areas of the north, sprinkled along the US border.? If they can't get work there, or even if they can, the siren call of work across the border at an even higher multiple draws many to try to make the crossing – some legally with paperwork in hand, but far too many illegally. Very few want to leave home. Very few want to leave behind their families and friends. Most feel that is the only way to survive and send enough money back home to help their families.

The classic response from many politicians in recent years has been to build barriers – literal or procedural to “prevent” immigration. But somehow, despite many intelligent people and enormous investment and energy, the flow of immigrants had not slowed, let alone stopped.

If we step back and ask what creates the conditions where so many need to move, the answer is relatively obvious: the lack of opportunity drives people to move. But what is causing the lack of opportunity?? In Mexico and northern Central America, it is energy poverty. There needs to be more energy available in these areas and what is available, is expensive. The result is a severe restriction on investments in these regions, which would provide high-quality, dignified employment which would allow people the option to stay and work at home.

On top of that, in the most impoverished regions, using biomass—wood and charcoal, for cooking and even for micro-industrial processes—is creating more environmental damage than virtually any other source of energy would. Additionally, many families living at or near subsistence levels take their children out of school early to have them start to generate income for the family, exacerbating the challenges that they will face to obtain a living wage as they get older.

Delivering cost-effective, lower-emission energy to southern Mexico and northern Central America may be the most effective way to drive economic development, provide employment that allows children to stay in schools, and reduce deforestation in the region.

We are living in a once-in-a-generation opportunity in Mexico with a global trend toward nearshore manufacturing, driving a renewed interest in setting up factories in Mexico. Today, there are challenges to many investors along the US border to justify their investments due to the need for more security of access to natural gas and electricity. If it is difficult to invest in Monterrey, how difficult will it be to attract investment to the energy-starved southern regions?

Tackling this problem is a considerable challenge.? It is even more difficult due to the multi-layered regulatory approvals required to achieve any infrastructure investment in the US and Mexico. But these challenges must be met and overcome. Alliances between US, Canadian, and Mexican governmental bodies around investment to reduce energy poverty may be possible, given that all countries share common goals to reduce migration pressure at the various borders. If the energy sector can develop solutions, we may find that a pipeline is more effective than a wall in reducing illegal immigration. Creating actual economic conditions for people to choose to stay home and doing so in a way that also helps the environment is an achievable, sustainable solution that can help an area of the world that desperately needs it.

#naturalgas #energytransition #immigration #energypoverty #justtransition #Mexico #notherntriangle #thewall