Mexico Asks for US Work Visas in Exchange for Climate Action

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has a neat idea by which the USA could solve climate change and illegal immigration with one policy initiative.

Trees for visas: Mexico suggests US citizenship for reforestation

April 23, 20213:55 PM AEST

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday suggested the U.S. government offer temporary work visas and eventually citizenship to those who take part in a vast tree planting program he hopes to expand to Central America.

In remarks at a White House virtual climate summit, Lopez Obrador said that Mexico aimed to expand his administration’s signature “Sembrando Vida,” or “Sowing Life,” program to Central America, which he said is planting 700,000 trees.

Calling it “possibly the largest reforestation effort in the world,” Lopez Obrador said the program aims to create 1.2 million jobs and plant 3 billion additional trees through expansion into southeastern Mexico and Central America.

At the two-day climate summit attended virtually by leaders of 40 countries, Lopez Obrador said U.S. President Joe Biden “could finance” the program’s extension to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/trees-visas-mexico-suggests-us-citizenship-reforestation-2021-04-22/

I do not believe Mexico takes Biden’s climate initiative seriously – as WUWT reported earlier in April, President Obrador is pushing for a significant expansion of Mexico’s coal fleet. But you have to admire his sense of humour.