CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, June 24, 2019

Cui Bono? The Central American money trail

The Latin: Cui Bono? asks "Who benefits?" In plain English, it means: "follow the money trail." Unquestionably, the beneficiaries of "open borders" are: major U.S. Agri-business and Hospitality-business corporations that want cheap labor to fatten their bottom lines and jack up their stock prices.

Other beneficiaries of "open borders" include: the drug cartels and the sex-trafficking rings that do not want to be apprehended by honest law-enforcement officers or bear the inconvenient expense of having to bribe those who are not law-abiding. And, of course, the Liberal Democrats who want to use the enticement of "free stuff" to create a permanent Democrat-voting majority.

But wait! There are more. It is in the economic interest of the Central American countries, and even Mexico, to foster the harsh economic conditions, crime, and corruption that cause so many of their citizens to flee toward the safety and the economic opportunities that can be found inside the United States, to include our generous welfare programs.

Why? Because of the remittances that those who enter the United States, either illegally or legally, send back to their Central American countries of origin.

Thanks to 2017 data from the World Bank and Pew Research, we have these examples: Each year, people from Guatemala living in the United States send back to Guatemala $ 7.25 Billion Dollars in remittances. That accounts for 11.2-percent of Guatemala’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Hondurans remit $3.76 Billion Dollars, amounting to 18.8-percent of Honduras’ GDP. El Salvadorans remit $4.6 Billion or 20.4-percent of their GDP. Mexicans remit $30 Billion; however, given Mexico’s Trillion-Dollar economy, that is only 2.8-percent of Mexico’s GDP.

Cui Bono? It’s in the Swiss bank-account interest of the Central American elites to encourage caravans of their people to enter the United States and then use Western Union to wire back billions of dollars.

Fortunately, there is a way, under International Law and also via bi-lateral deal-making by the United States, to put a stop to this blatant ripping off of the U.S. economy to shore up the failing Socialist regimes of Central America.

It rests on the Principle of First Safe Country. It means anyone seeking asylum must stop and apply to do so in the first "safe country" they can reach. We already have this deal with Canada. Asylum seekers who land in Canada cannot simply cross over into the United States. Irrespective of their desired destination, they must wait in Canada while their asylum requests are being adjudicated.

President Trump is working on a deal with Mexico whereby Mexico is designated as a "safe county," meaning all those purported asylum seekers from Central American cannot enter the United States. They must wait inside Mexico while their asylum cases are being adjudicated.

To induce Mexico to want to be designated as a "safe county," we can place a tariff on Mexican-made goods entering the United States and, with help from Congress (good luck with that because too many members of both parties are beholden to the "open-borders" lobby), we could put, say, a one-percent tax on remittances sent by Western Union. Cui Bono? Who benefits? We do. The United States of America. Plus, Central America and Mexico end up paying for the Wall.

©2019. William Hamilton.

Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, is a laureate of the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame, the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma University Army ROTC Wall of Fame. Dr. Hamilton is the author of The Wit and Wisdom of William Hamilton: the Sage of Sheepdog Hill, Pegasus Imprimis Press (2017). "Central View," can also be seen at: www.central-view.com.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com