Marshall Plan for Central America would restore hope, end migrant border crisis

If we truly want to end the migrant crisis at our border, there must be a Marshall Plan for Central America. We've heard many calls for such a plan, most recently from 2020 presidential candidate Julian Castro in the first Democratic debate.

A Marshall Plan today would provide the most important thing the people of Central America need: Hope. For that is exactly what the original Marshall Plan did for Europe after World War II.

What we saw last week of Vice President Mike Pence visiting overcrowded facilities at the U.S-Mexican border looked hopeless. Migrants were in sweltering hot, filthy rooms with only concrete to sleep on. We must take action to improve the care for migrant adults and children, but we must also realize that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

Charities like Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, and the World Food Programme see the horrible, impoverished conditions where the migrants come from in the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador). They know that aid is crucial because you have to address the root causes behind migration. No one would make the dangerous journey from these nations through Mexico to America unless they were desperate.