Immigration has been a hot topic during this election season—and immigration impacts global development quite a bit. Increasing labor mobility can improve the economic conditions of both rich and developing countries.

As you may know, yesterday the Republican presidential candidates gathered for the CNN YouTube Republican Debates. Here are some highlights dealing with immigration:

Check out this playlist to see all the candidates talk about this contentious issue:

Missed the Democrats on YouTube? Here’s the recap of the CNN YouTube Democrat Debates.

According to an article in today’s Washington Post, the Democratic Candidates all support a plan that would bring greenhouse gas emissions down 80% from 1990s levels by 2050—and they all take a big risk. Some concerns are higher energy costs in the short term and the fact that Americans would face significant lifestyle changes, which could be unpopular with voters.

Here are some of the things the article quoted the candidates as saying:

Edwards explained to democratic primary voters, “It won’t be easy, but it is time for a president who asks Americans to be patriotic about something other than war.”

In an interview, Edwards also recognized the challenges of supporting potentially unpopular climate plans. He said, “I’d be the first to tell you: This is not necessarily the greatest political calculation….” Edwards added, “No matter what the politics are, there’s such a moral responsibility to address this issue. We’ve got to do it.”

In a speech yesterday in Iowa, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) spoke of her plans that would reduce foreign oil imports by two-thirds in comparison to current projections.

She said, “This is the biggest challenge we’ve faced in a generation — a challenge to our economy, our security, our health and our planet. It’s time for America to meet it. . . I believe America is ready to take action, ready to break the bonds of the old energy economy and ready to prove that the climate crisis is also one of the greatest economic opportunities in the history of our country. . . . It will be a new beginning for the 21st century.”

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) said in a Des Moines speech last month that rising energy costs will be mediated by new technology. He also admitted, “But at least on the front end, there’s going to be some costs, and we can’t pretend like there’s a free lunch.”

The Republican candidates are more dubious on the topic of climate change.

Former Mayer Giuliani warned, “if we try to deal with it at too hysterical a pace, we could create problems.”

So far, the only Republican candidate to be seriously addressing global warming concerns is Senator John McCain (Ariz.), who supports a 60 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2050.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) holds that carefully handling the climate change issue is important for either party. He said in an interview that the Democrats could turn off voters with a “litigation and regulation” stance. He continued, “Then, Republican candidates are on the opposite extreme,” he added. “A candidate who’s anti-environment and denies global warming gets killed in the suburbs.”

All policy-makers need to do what’s best for global development, including supporting critical environmental issues.

Read the full article for more information on this topic.

As you may know, HIV/AIDS is one of the largest challenges we face as a global community. It reduces life expectancy and decreases economic productivity—burdens that have an enormous impact on countries already struggling with poverty.

Today, Senator Clinton signed the “Presidential Pledge for Leadership on Global AIDS and Poverty.” She joined Bill Richardson as the only other presidential candidate to have signed the pledge.

Here are two main points to which Hillary commits if elected:

Give more money
She commits to set aside “at least $50 billion to the fight against AIDS by 2013,” and to “make significant progress toward providing an additional one percent of the U.S. budget to fighting poverty in impoverished countries.” In 2003, President Bush committed to provide $15 billion to AIDS relief over a five-year period through PEPFAR (The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). Currently, we rank 14^th in the Center for Global Development’s “Commitment to Development Index” (CDI). America is a rich and generous country—but we give a low portion of our economy to help developing countries. Let’s help close the gap between what we have given and what is needed to fight this epidemic—and an extra one percent would be a big improvement.

Streamline the system
By adding her name to the pledge, Hillary also promises to look into the “creation of a cabinet-level poverty-focused development agency.” This would help us focus our global development efforts. Currently, more than 20 different U.S. government agencies are involved in global development. This means that our foreign assistance programs are frequently fragmented and uncoordinated. U.S. assistance programs could be far less expensive and more effective if we put someone in charge with direct access to the President.

We here at Global Development Matters hope all of the candidates put their names on the pledge. Let’s take more of a leadership role in the fight against HIV/AIDS and global poverty!

Read the full article to find out more about this Presidential Pledge.