In the first Democrat presidential debate, candidate Julian Castro made a case for “reproductive justice,” by which he meant that poor trans females should have the right to a government funded abortion. That would apply to approximately zero people but another idea from the Texas Democrat would be more far reaching.

“We need a Marshall plan for Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador,” Castro said. “So that people can find safety and opportunity at home instead of coming to the United States to seek it.” Castro’s plan did not get the attention it deserved, possibly because few in the establishment media know what the Marshall Plan is.

“Europe was devastated by years of conflict during World War II,” the George C. Marshall Foundation explains. “Millions of people had been killed or wounded. Industrial and residential centers in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium and elsewhere lay in ruins. Much of Europe was on the brink of famine as agricultural production had been disrupted by war.” So former U.S. Army Chief of Staff George Marshall, Secretary of State under President Harry Truman, launched the European Recovery Program.

“European nations received nearly $13 billion in aid,” the foundation notes, “which initially resulted in shipments of food, staples, fuel and machinery from the United States and later resulted in investment in industrial capacity in Europe.” As a result, “Marshall Plan nations were assisted greatly in their economic recovery.”

Contrary to Castro, there is no parallel with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, not on the verge of famine or in ruins from four years of warfare. Honduras and El Salvador fought a brief war over a soccer game in 1969, with some 2,000 casualties on each side. The United States has no obligation to meet the costs, and the three nations are also responsible for their own economic conditions.

The flywheel of Spanish colonialism was the counter-reformation, which looked askance at commerce and entrepreneurship, and failed to cultivate property rights, a key factor in economic growth. That made for a neo-feudal arrangement of bemedaled despots ruling the unskilled masses.

Transfers of money to these regimes, which are in no meaningful sense allies of the United States, will only expand corruption and motivate people to leave. Despite his pitch for a Marshall Plan, Julian Castro wants more Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans in the United States.

“We need a young and vibrant workforce,” Castro told reporters, “and if we’re not careful, if we don’t get this right, in 20 or 30 years this nation is going to be begging for immigrants to come to this country.” There are a couple of back stories going on here.

As the open-border squads have it, the “anglo,” Yankee workers are all getting older. They need to be replaced by those perpetually young, vibrant Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans, part of that superior Ibero-Indian raza that Mexican education minister Jose Vasconcelos claimed was replacing all other races. Actually, the United States does have a young, vibrant workforce, now losing jobs to false-documented illegals.  

In May of 2017, Mexican nationals Hugo Mejia and Rodrigo Nuñez came to Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield, California, to work on a hospital. When base security scanned their ID, “the information came back false.” So the Mexicans were not allowed to work on the base, and were not supposed to be in the United States in the first place.

The other back story of Castro’s plan is the Democrats’ protection racket. They allow illegals to break U.S. law and enter the United States, protected them from deportation, and allow them to vote. The Democrats then reward them with health care paid by American taxpayers. This racket is most evident in California and flaunted by Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose first trip out of state was to El Salvador.  

El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala have received plenty of money from the United States, including $413 million in the 2017 budget alone, and little if anything has changed. They need to replace their current regimes with a freely elected government that respects human rights, including property rights, and allows the entrepreneurial energy of the people to flourish. That will never happen if the USA allows Central Americans to enter by the thousands.

Immigration policy should follow the example of Travis Air Force Base. The United States alone determines who gets in the country, based on our needs, not theirs. Nobody whose identity we can’t verify should get in. Those who are living here with false documents, and who commit identity theft, should be deported at the first opportunity.

Contrary to Julian Castro, legitimate American citizens and legal immigrants also hang drywall and work as carpenters, masons, plumbers and laborers. Not so long ago, even seasonal farm workers were Americans. In the early 1970s, previously deported Mexican national Juan Corona murdered and mutilated at least 25 farm workers, not a single one of them Mexican.

Border enforcement and deportations will protect American jobs, respect American taxpayers, preserve the rule of law, and strike a blow for fair elections. It’s a no-brainer for 2020 and beyond.