http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg.asp

You want to solve the illegal-immigration problem? Well, here's the answer: Make Mexico rich.

A rich Mexico would not export poor, unskilled workers to the United States for two simple reasons: It wouldn't have a surplus of them, and it would need what few it had for its own economy. Moreover, research and common sense alike tell us that most people don't want to leave their homes, families, and communities in pursuit of work in a foreign country if they can find similar work at home.

Of course, there's an obvious problem here that reminds me of Steve Martin's old routine about his foolproof two-step plan to make a million dollars tax-free. His first step? "Find a million dollars."

"Make Mexico rich" is also easier said than done. But it isn't any less true simply because it's hard. A Mexico with a per capita income somewhere even close to America's would stop sending its poorest workers abroad, largely because those workers wouldn't want to leave.

The Mexican economy, which does better than you might think, creates about a half-million jobs a year. That's not too shabby. The problem is that about a million young people enter the work force every year. A big chunk of that surplus labor heads north, as do many of the workers who yearn to make more than the Mexican minimum wage of $4.50 (U.S.) per day.

So, how do you make the Mexicans rich? One method, preferred by many in the Mexican government, is to export your poor laborers to America, where they can then send billions of dollars back to Mexico in the form of cash remittances to loved ones, while at the same time alleviating the strain on the welfare state. Needless to say, this has not been a zippy process. Another route might be foreign aid. But foreign aid, it turns out, is next to useless for modernizing an economy. It seems that foreign economic planners and domestic economic planners have a knack for hashing out plans to build useless white elephants.

There is a third route: trade. Free trade has been proven, time and again, as a reliable path to economic development. It pushes both the public and private sectors toward greater accountability and transparency. It lifts people out of poverty, and while it can force unsettling changes on a society those changes prove to be worthwhile in a very short time.

So here's the funny part. As my colleague Rich Lowry has noted, liberals and Democrats tend to oppose free-trade agreements — most recently the Central America Free Trade Agreement — on the grounds that they "export American jobs" to underpaid Latin American workers. But the same people generally favor importing underpaid Latin American workers into the United States to take many of the same jobs. One hand giveth, the other taketh away. The cynicism in all of this is fairly breathtaking. It seems that what many liberals prefer is not preserving American jobs or bringing more undocumented workers, but importing undocumented Democrats.

America doesn't have a single immigration problem; it has several immigration problems of varying levels of urgency. One of them is the challenge that comes from sharing a 2,000-mile border with a very poor country. Canadians aren't pouring over the far less secure northern border to live in America, because Canada — its numerous shortcomings notwithstanding — is a prosperous country. Many, if not most, of the immigrants who come from Canada — or from Europe and, to a lesser extent, Asia — are ideal. They are highly skilled and motivated to benefit from, and contribute to, a modern economy. Mexican immigrants are plenty motivated, but they come up short on the skills part. If Mexico were as rich as Canada, the Mexicans would be the ones freaking out about their porous southern border as Guatemalans tried to "steal jobs Mexicans won't do."

For all the talk about coming up with "comprehensive" immigration reform, the root causes of the supply are left out of the debate about immigrant supply and demand. If we're going to be "comprehensive," why not tie a fixed but significant level of legal Mexican immigration to greater free-market and anti-corruption reforms at home. Mexico's government feels increasingly free to lecture us about our domestic and economic priorities; it seems only fitting for us to take a more active interest in theirs as well.

I agree thatit is the root cause, but corruption is so deep within their society, the only way to fix it would be for a complete revolution to take place, which in my estimates will not happen any time soon.

Another way to do it would be to bill Mexico (or any other countries) for what we pay in MediCal, etc. Then maybe they'd be a little more apt to watch their boarders.

Personally, I think it's time to stop giving away the American dollars to these countries. I am not even close to an isolationist, but as a fiscal conservative (damned near a libertarian) would like to see all of our money kept here until we have been able to solve our problems.

We need to make it practical for American business to be setup in Mexico. Perhaps a Constitution for Mexico making them more part of the United States, a United States of Southern America.

I tend to think they would just pay the bill. The bill likely is much less than the amount of money sent back by the illegals here in the States

No thanks, no need to annex Mexico, let them solve their own problems, themselves.

Their country has failed them, it is corrupt and depend on illegal aliens sending back u.s. dollars. Their lack of middle class is fault of Mexico, our job is too make sure they don't come across by the thousands. At some point the general populace has to stand up for themselves in Mexico or they deserve the poverty they have. Feel sorry for their plight, but not my fault or issue to fix.

C'mon guys we all suck off the pipe. Unfortunately. Here's the question to all moarning.
Follow the logic: you go to Finland (the highiest living level in the Galaxy) and as a tourist you pay approx twice for everything. The question for idiots not familiar with the economics: where your tax (Finland ) money go???? The answer: in your pockets (Finland).
OK, now bear with me. Agaain this is how the ECONOMICS work and thi is where they scare a hack out of your uneducated ass.
Here's the truth of the FREE MARKET: if they pay a gardener ....say $50-60/Hr.......

Guess what is gonna happened to the FREE MARKET?

Your salary is going up within seconds (just like it happened in Finland and Japan),
illegals are still illegals, kids are kids and get OUR AMERICAN jobs

I agree that Mexico won't change by itself, but the US has an awful lot of leverage to make it change. The "nuclear" option is to inform Mexico that since they have violated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, by actively supporting an invasion of the US by their citizens, as demonstrated by the many who are violent criminals that kill over 2000 Americans a year, the millions of others who refuse to assimilate, and the $120 billion they steal from Americans each year. Therefore under the terms of the Treaty the US will one again raise the US flag over Mexico City, and again make Mexico a Territory of the US. The US will impose law and order and equality and economic justice. Appoint Rudy Gulianni the Governor of Mexico. Once this has been accomplished the Mexican people can decide if they want to remain an independent country, or petition for US Statehood.

Let's assume we made them rich....so rich they sit back and do not come here.

Then...lemme guess...China? Nicaraqua? Columbia? Peru?...
Basically just follow the geographical alphabet.

What do we become in the process?

It's much easier than that. We just need to make it so unpalatable for them to be hired that nobody will risk giving them a job. No job and they wont come illegally.

The tough part is rounding them up and shipping them home quickly enough so they don’t resort to crime to pay their bills or convincing them it’s in their best interest to learn English and getting them to participate in our government structure.