Water, War, and Immigration

My former colleague Rhett Larson, now a professor at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, has written a provocative piece for HuffPo: War and Water.

Professor Larson

In the article, Rhett talks about how the “tide of war and peace often turns on water.” For, nations at war often lack “water security, which is a condition where individuals and nations have access to an adequate quantity and quality of water with acceptable costs and risks.” He recommends that U.S. foreign policy should focus on advancing water security.

So what does water have to do with immigration? Everything, it turns out. He writes:

The current immigration crisis in the U.S. is in part an example of what mankind has done for thousands of years – pursue water security. Immigrants may say that they are pursuing peace or economic opportunities, but peace and economic opportunities are outgrowths of water security. If the U.S. desires peace abroad, it would do better to invest in water security than in weapons. And if the U.S. desires to resolve its immigration crisis, it would do better to invest in the water security of its neighbors than in walls on its borders.

-KitJ