Producing countries on the one hand, and consuming countries. Hondurans, our belief is, that the lack of opportunities, the levels of violence, of cultural exclusion that we see in honduras, and have seen, are not only the responsibility of hondurans. This is a problem that is all encompassing. It ties into the tragedy of our country, which has led us to situation of a war being waged in our territory about having been the ones to take the bulk of the hits by way of deaths. And having a Large International crime organizations that have stolen our country, these can be separated in honduras. There are other problems, clearly. When i talk about transnational crime, im talking about certain difficulties, which are tied to the issue of migration. That is, trafficking of minors, sexual exploitation, labor exploitation. But the correlation in the case of honduras, organized crime and those cities from which the large flows of migrants, are one and the same. That is why i strike this equation, to the principle of burden sharing these of the this phenomenon that we have seen over the last couple of months. Im referring to this historic flow of unaccompanied minor immigrants. You can speak in spanish or any language you like. It will be translated. [laughter] i will just mentioned, because there is a webcast, if there is a portion you are able to say in spanish, that will be outstanding. To reach the widest possible numbers of people. The foreign minister of honduras has talked about coresponsibility, multiple countries are responsible. Let me dig deeper though. Is there another way you would like to express this . Who is at fault . We want to diagnose the problem so we apply the proper solution. Please. [speaking spanish] i apologize for not speaking in english. I will be speaking in spanish. We take a cold hard look at the numbers. The crisis of children has very concrete policies that are resulting in the current juncture. It goes back 35 years ago, although it has reached a height in the last couple of years. Now youve got the coyotes who have convinced the families of the children that at this point in time, if they bring the children to the United States, they will be allowed to stay. Then youve got the lack of guile, the innocence of the family that believe that promise. It would seem like there was this migration of children. But it isnt really a migration. 400,000 new babies are born, and so we have a half million under 18 years of age. So this isnt jordan with refugees flooding in. This relates to this specific phenomenon, duping families into thinking they can bring families as a business. 2500 is the cost the coyotes charge to cross across the river. Or up to 7,000. This is so profitable that for the last year the number of coyotes offering this service has grown exponentially in many communities. That said, as this is a relatively small number compared to the Overall Group of children, it hasnt led to the wholesale displacement of communities. However, the migration of Central Americans into the u. S. Generally speaking is something you have to break down and numbers. I dont pick we have a single explanation in this case. The largest immigration has not taken place in the last 45 years, not even the last 50 years. In 20012008, and it stopped. The surge stopped with the economic crisis in the United States. Before that, when hundred 80,000 would move every year. Before that, when hundred 50,000 would move every year. Overall, that 1. 5 million who have moved are now citizens. Only 100 some odd thousand are not yet citizens. They have residency of one type or another we think. 180,000 are already citizens. This is a longstanding process. From 20012008 there was a surge. There are a number of factors. Chief is the u. S. Economy, which is binar very dynamic. There was a demand for workers. Another important element behind this migration, 23 tropical storms, large storms hit our country and others, contributed to the communities giving rise to immigration now. There is also a drop of mexican immigrants into the u. S. The coyotes had to make up for that loss by bringing in Central Americans. All this added to the fact that a wage difference between u. S. And Central America is a factor now. This cant be attributed to one administration, one given policy. This is a social phenomenon that transpired in a period of time that are still there from 2008 on. Immigration growth has been relatively slow compared to earlier. With my poor spanish, i believe youre telling me that there was less demand by mexicans to travel to the United States, and they coyotes move south. Trafficking networks move south in search of human beings and found your countries prayed that is what you are telling me. The total children coming to the u. S. , you had at least 17,000 for mexico. A 2011, it was down to 11,000. When you see the trend of mexicans, when it reaches this low, the next year is when you see the surge in Central American children coming. Its a good business. It is very profitable. There are very specific elements that have been created for illegal migration of people that explains this. Why do i use this explanation . We always discuss it as a question of Law Enforcement. It is a question of how markets work. How the markets work, they will find solutions for the problems. If we have the idea or follow the idea that this is a lawenforcement problem, and we can only solve this through Law Enforcement, we will stop it as well as the drug wars. How do you change the market for human beings . You have to attack the Smuggling Networks. This is something we havent done. We capture Smuggling Networks seven weeks ago in guatemala. How much noise have you heard . Nothing. Its not important enough. How many people did we capture in guatemala . 14. How many in mexico . 15. How many in texas . 45. They were based in texas. This is something, how this business has been developed over the years. Definitely we need to tell the story, with children you cant really get it. There are limits for everything. Maybe an adult says i can give you money, and that is an a legal concept, but that is an adult. That type of network, we create many programs for children definitely. We have human smuggling. Martinez, would you like to add . [speaking spanish] we have already said this phenomenon has multiple causes. Some reasons have been aired here by my colleagues. There is another situation, there has been a lack of opportunities in points of origin of migrants, education, and security. When weaver talking with joe biden with this, this is a matter of finding guilty parties in the short term, but to address the current crisis, and think in long terms, that lead to this migration are not [indiscernible] and we have been working in coordination with the northern triangle together. The traffickers and persons are pounding the borders more carefully. We have a campaign in the three countries, making parents aware of the risk in sending their children to the u. S. , and putting them in the hands of people who are involved. We can talk about the other things weve been doing to stanch this flow of unaccompanied minors but we have made a proposal to the Obama Administration about the measures that need to be taken now. These are in effect in the countries of origin. To create opportunism, businesses, such that people feel motivated to stay home and work where they live. The second approach would be a wager on technical and vocational training. If we offer Young Children and teenagers good education, good training, for them to come into the labor market, that is going to spur them to stay in their countries of origin. The approach, we have been focusing the cities in each country where there is the biggest problem of violence and gangs, and we are going to have to create teams for Law Enforcement, and sure the reinsertion of those who have been picked up [indiscernible] but you said something about needing to invest in security. Is there a lack of government . No. The sheer size, this is not something that can be caught and isolation. Be tackled in isolation by a country or an administration. We have to tackle it. Organized crime does not respect laws or borders. If we do not come together in a war against the organized crime, there is no other solution. Certainly, the networks and trafficking have people who collaborate with them. The only way for us to tackle this is to join forces. Those seizures or arrests need to be made with us. One country, operating alone, will not be able to do this. I think that a thing that has not been said and, i want to point out that it seems diverse, the response you have gotten from the three of us, you can complement them. If, you see it another way. You can complement them if you see it another way. I fully agree and it was said by my colleagues that examining the causes for migration, it is a historical phenomenon. You have places where Economic Development is happening. This comes as an attraction for people to find a better life. Even if that is not true sometimes. They think that they are looking for something better. I talk about violence and, in the case of honduras, the homicide rates are high and we have data that supports that. It is related to Drug Trafficking. If you have that in mind and you have a small budget like honduras has, you give 20 of your Gross National product to the cost of security. Is that a correct number . You are currently spending 20 . [speaking spanish] lets say that 20 of gdp is devoted to the overall cost of violence and then 1. 8 is for health care. How would it be possible when we talk about lack of opportunities . What we see is that if we do not break from the vicious cycle, one thing impacts on the other hand, for any government, it is like a snapshot of our country that shows us what our vulnerabilities are and shows us the shared responsibility that needs to be taken by transit and destination countries. So, we should Work Together to break the cycle. Violence does not encourage investment. We have been working over the last couple of years with large initiatives to create jobs and attract foreign investment. If the risk factor is high, how much can we actually do to really attract investments and jobs . The first thing is to focus on containing violence and creating a safer environment. We are talking about Citizen Security and legal certainty. There is trust in state institutions that are undermined by organized crime. This is the fight against corruption. Organized crime has had has undermined the credibility of democratic institutions, without a doubt. This is something that we accept and we are working on this. So, yesterday, there were nongovernment organizations here who had, fortunately, decided to join the government of honduras to engage in the process for purchasing medicine and helping honduras with what they are doing to ensure a more open and transparent administration. When we talk about violence and we talk about market behavior, as huo was saying about the land of opportunities, these are things that we cannot see in isolation. All of these are part of an overall approach. There is no single cause or responsible party. We have to have a comprehensive and pragmatic approach for us to take care of the immediate crisis at hand and the humanitarian emergency of unaccompanied children and adolescents. Also what is the u. S. Responsibility here . We could spend a long time talking about that. I think that there are two things that have already been mentioned here and i will paraphrase them in my own words. The fact that the United States, traditionally, views the issue of Drug Trafficking and the consumption of drugs in the u. S. As a matter of Public Security is unacceptable from the standpoint of Central America. There has to be a different way to look at this issue. We talk about how many people there are. They are engaged in the trafficking of adults and, how many of them operate within the u. S. . I dont know if this was the diplomatic we had a meeting in panama about the issue of security and i started to receive a lot of information about how the cartel were setting up shop. We have to ask how drugs are distributed when they come into the u. S. That is the huge drug consuming country. What we believe traditionally is the blessing of Central America and the bank. It is the bridge between the north and the south and the heart of the hemisphere has become the biggest tragedy. As a result, there is a demand that is eager to receive a good in the south that is transported through our territory now. Drugs that come into the United States come to honduras. Are there problems with United States . What about the assistance that the United States could provide . Do you need more . We do. We saw the problem coming and we made a call to the International Community. We call for a Central American strategy that contains four components. Strengthening the institutions for combating crime and the Law Enforcement approach. And, a time frame of funds. Now, there were amounts pledged and the execution of these projects are currently lower than the needs. We are not saying that this is something that has to be financed only by the International Community or the United States. Our countries are taking in resources. There are budgetary difficulties that we have to combat the enemy of such magnitude. Drug trafficking, much more resources are necessary. Also, the structural phenomenon needs to be attacked. The lack of opportunity and in many of our communities, we have to with youth who being extorted by organized crime. They are told that if they do not collaborate, we will kill you and if you do collaborate with us, you will have the easy money to buy whatever you want for yourself. On the other hand, the children are excluded and they do not have sufficient Educational Opportunities or labor opportunities. What we have suggested to the u. S. And the International Community is an alliance or partnership with these countries. Ultimately, it creates prosperity for the United States because we are connected. There has to be a common front to solve this problem. Getting back to my numbers, i find that the narratives are ideological and they are not based on facts. We do not know anything in washington about ideological. I know. You guys are about Scientific Evidence for issues. [laughter] that is not just washington. That is everywhere. Questions of governance, okay, poor governance is reflected on certain data. Mortality rates should go up. Murder rates go up. School cover should be going down or stagnate. Health reform should be implemented. No reform for the judicial or Social Security taking place. Everything is happening in Central America. You see the trends. Look at maternal mortality. It is going down. Primary School Coverage is going up. Murder rates are going down during the last five years in all the countries. So, numbers are not supported. The idea that poor governance is taking place, some Good Governance is taking place. A number are our countries. So, you can solve your problems. You havent a billiondollar you have an 8 billion dollar budget. It is a marginal part of it. You mentioned forms of aid from the United States and it would be less than 2 billion. If we continue this way, when are we going to achieve a goal that is important for affecting migration . Secondary School Coverage is critical. We have secondary School Coverage in guatemala. 27 secondary School Coverage. If we continue with our resources, we will have secondary School Coverage in the next 15 years. If you provided us funding, we can cut that to half. It is a question of funding. The political decision is there. The Institutional Capacity you can believe. The money is not. The second part is a question about taxpaying in Central America. It has to go up in countries like guatemala. Taxpaying has to go up. We have discovered a push for fiscal reform in the beginning of the term. Because of the constitutional norms and the elements, it is diluted. We are taxing personal income. How much taxation provides personal income in el salvador . That is nothing compared to the u. S. Or other countries. Still, 2 . The average in latin america is 4 . We collect is 0. 7 in personal income tax. To give you an example you are meeting john boehner later, right . I am meeting with anyone in the u. S. Who is pushing for less taxation. I believe that our levels of taxation are so low that even conservative americans would not support it. I took the Tea Party Manifesto on taxation and was going to publish it in guatemala to see the reaction. I was pretty sure that everybody would call me a communist. [laughter] guatemala would be communist. We need to improve taxation. I am saying this. It depends on these elements. Larger contributions, definitely. And, improving taxation at the same time. I have many more questions and i see that our time is running down. We want to stay on schedule. I invite a few questions and the audience. If i call on you, stand and state your name. Time is short. Ask a direct question and we will answer as we can. Right here in the front or, in the third row. I am penny starr. Can you address more about Border Security in your country . They have to read the border reached the border of your country to get to our border. You are asking if they are trying to keep people in . I am asking about Border Security. What we were saying before, we have seen the flow of unaccompanied minors doesnt correspond with records that we have in official border points. Evidently, there is a route that the traffickers follow that is the route that these unaccompanied minors follow. When they leave our country, they leave irregularly. In el salvador, our laws determine that a minor cannot leave without a notarized item from parents. We are increasing controls throughout the borders. These individuals, these children, are leaving through regular points of exit. We have reinforced and strengthened our border to guarantee that we do not have a regular flow out of our country. As parents, we understand the feeling that a father or mother has to meet their children. We would like to say to them that it is not worth it. It is not worth risking the lives of your children. A related question. It is important, again, on the question of what we are doing and what we should do. We identified this as a problem. We have been working with mexico. One is the agreement that we signed a few weeks ago in which they stayed in mexico for three days within a territory. The whole territory of that is if you want to go for tourism or business. You can do that. You would be amazed how many guatemalans do the supermarket and mexico. 50 of consumers come from guatemala. After the 80 kilometers, the controls get strict. You cannot go with that. The idea of the card is that everybody is identified. If you do not have a card, you cannot get in. You can say, i am a guatemalan and i have my card. They will stamp it. After 80 kilometers, more strict. You are going to have three levels of control. You may say, they can go around the controls. It is so easy. They go in the river. You can go one by one, if you want to. That improves your chances if you want to go to the u. S. Illegally. If you want to go to the u. S. , you want to take a convoy. It is cheaper for everybody. That is what you need to control. That is what 95 of people go through. Same thing in guatemala. We have a project of 350 million and 10 legal crossings with the same level of security on both sides. There is a security border. The engineers of mexico designed this crossing and we are going to have the same thing. It is a lot of money for us. It will be worth it. We think that we will have that in place. If you allow me, i have a comment. Ive a quick comment in connection with what honduras is doing. In the past few weeks, the president decided to work with the director of migration in honduras. There were blind spots. They are crossings that are not defined border crossings. Activities were conducted there. Illegal trafficking activities of minors. This had an effect on us. And, many of the coyote groups need to be brought in to justice. It is a good idea to make a distinction from regular migration from irregular migration. Regular migration is a reality of the globalized world. No one can deny that. If we look at this viewpoint, there would be a contradiction. The northern triangle countries have been pioneers. We have worked towards moving our goods and Services Quickly from one border to the next. The same thing happens regionally. One could say that there is a contradiction. On the one hand, we are facilitating the movement of goods and services. We have to stop the movement of people. So, how can we tried to solve this contradiction. We have to look at legal migration alternatives. The experience that has come out of this shows, once again, that the harder migration measures are, the more sophisticated illegal Trafficking Networks are going to become. The hardest it is to me the harder it is to meet an objective, the greater the risk. There are issues that come out of the process that we need to address. We talk about resources and assistance from the u. S. I want to say a couple things about that. There was a Senate Decision that froze 35 of the funds for Central American Security Initiative because we have not certified that the efforts by the government are sufficient in certain areas. The question that we pose is, are the funds ready or are they not ready . They are there and they do not get to us. I am not good with numbers like my colleague from guatemala. My view, as a woman, is humanitarian in nature. Apart from the figures and the way that we use these figures to base our opinions, we are talking about children and families that are being broken. I think this is important. I think we need to be logical when it comes to these prophecies and think about these things. What have we gotten out of this . What have we gotten out of the strengthening and hardening of the border issues in the states . If the United States gave 10 to support employment programs, the story would be different. Good morning. My name is jackie. I am from el salvador and i live in the district of columbia. My question is for the minister. I am sorry. Many things have been heard and there can be campaigns for children not to come here. As the mother, if my child is not safe in my country, i am going to run risks. If you do not have a good campaign, it is not going to work. We have a cancer here. You can close the border and we will find a way to get to the states. What is the plan to combat violence in el salvador . Thank you for the question. I have talked about the measures already. We have focused on municipalities where we have seen the largest number of gangs and the greatest violence. We started with municipalities. You know that we started about two months ago. There are muses pallet is municipalities and we are going to apply measures to fight gangs and provide safety and opportunities to young people. We are acutely aware of the problem that you put forward. We know the causes of why some are coming to the United States. We look at this from a unilateral viewpoint. We are not strengthening borders. This has to do with trafficking and how the criminal networks use the paths to move. We look at measures so that young people have opportunities. They have opportunities in their communities of origin. There is a Technological Institute built and the young people have Something Else to look forward to. They are no longer saying, my first option is to leave. They say, i have a technical degree that i am getting interest him in tourism. We have implemented measures in the western area and the coal so area of the country that allows us to provide opportunities. I agree that we have to intervene in those areas where there are violent acts. I am looking behind you. I mean, you. Please stand up. Ok. Do not stand up. I am asking my question in spanish. You had a meeting the president is holding a meeting with mr. Obama. What to expect out of the meeting . Are there questions that you would like to pose . Specifically, looking at what happened to the u. S. Congress and the freezing of the funds by the president . What is the success that the meeting is going to have . This meeting is part of a sequence that started with the visit of joe biden in guatamala. We had a meeting with secretary kerry. We received secretary johnson and the secretary for mexico. I think that this is important. We see those events one after another and they are common ideas. The first is very important. Stop the immediate flow of children. Of course, the most important parts is stopping the flow of children. It is a humanitarian measure to protect the children. This is important to understand. You are only trying to stop migration. That is not the case. We need to stop this as an essential manner matter. We are going to work with United States to top this stop this. The actions involved Law Enforcement. The other issue that is important is this idea to establish a pattern in the medium term and the long term. This is going to be put in the agenda at the meeting with president biden. These issues are going to be discussed with the administration and a branch of government. Also, with congress. Congress and the executive branch are going to make the decision to respond to the situation. Our position is a position of cooperation. I see there are so many questions here. Perhaps some of you will be able to linger and answer. Is there a final thought that you would like to leave the people watching on the webcast . In my opinion, the first thing that we need to remember is that this is a humanitarian story. There is a political background and a deadlock between different chambers of congress. There is a bipartisan debate in the United States. There are structural issues in the country. We can talk a lot about causes and effects. We can talk a lot about specific situations and longterm solutions. The important thing here is that, in all of this, we have to think that, apart from the material elements that we have to have to solve the issue, there is a background that needs to exist and needs to provide moral options. I do not think that i am going to start an ideological debate here. We need to look at what we need to do from a correctly humane viewpoint. Specifically, when it comes to migrant minors. We are looking for the best interests of the child to do the right thing. It is a humanitarian story. Thank you very much. Do you want to add something before we go . No, no, go ahead. Finish. I want to end by saying something very important. It has to do with the narrative of the debate here in washington. We are good partners and we can Work Together. That is very important. One cannot solve these problems if the government does not have the capability to meet the commitment. The United States now has an advantage. Three Central American governments are meeting promises and have a realistic set of objectives. They do not have problems in facing institutional difficulties. We have political problems. The u. S. Has political problems. The world has political problems. I think that the northern part of Central America has a certain maturity. That is important to solve these problems. I focus on these and for these children, they had their rights respected. And, for them to be the subject of due process. And, for them to have the possibility of going through the instances in the u. S. And legislation. I talk about the efforts that we are making in our country and we want the u. S. To give us support. The second thing that we ask is cooperation to delve into the measures that can solve migration processes and the root causes of migration. Security is important. Economic opportunities are important. If these individuals had the economic opportunities, many of them would never come to the u. S. We say we wanted to be an option and not an obligation. We want people to not be obligated to come here and migrate. We have people will have basic conditions met and then want to emigrate. They have opted to emigrate. We want to help in that area. Thank you very much. Please thank the Foreign Ministers for taking the time. [applause] michelle is our guest on this weeks u. N. Day q a. . Part of my responsibilities is representing the secretary of defense on the socalled Deputies Committee which is the senior level groups and working through the issues developing options for the principles and the president , and a lot of Crisis Management focus. Nk,n youre in a think ta youre trying to not secondguess the policymaker on issues of the day, but out them to look over the horizon to see what are these issues that im going to confront a year from now,ith, ive years from 10 years from now . How do i become more strategic about americas role in the world . Cofounder of the center for National American security, flournoy on cspans q a. On the next washington hamid. , shadi pagepolitical reporters winfield cunningham. In Los Angeles TimesInvestigative Reporter david willman. And we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Journal, live at 7 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Tomorrow, secretary of state john kerry will talk about u. S. India relations at the center for american progress. We will have that live at 1 30 p. M. Than the leaders from the largest jewish organizations will gather in washington dc to show support for the people of israel. Include National Security adviser susan rice, House Speaker john boehner, the israelihy, and ambassador to the u. S. You can watch that on cspan three. On the communicators, two members of Congress Talk about their talk elegy legislation technology legislation. Data,u can collect that and it is a lot of data, that may include americans but it cannot be the purpose of the data. If you want to search that lawfully acquired database for americans, you should get a warrant. Not that you can i the information, get a warrant. Premise of the dot com act is that when the nation releases the reason oversight over the domain system, that we know what we are getting ourselves into. Monday night on a eastern on the Gil Kerlikowske is our guest on newsmakers and he and his agency are right at the middle of the crisis at the border. Commissioner, thanks for being with us. Let me introduce our two reporters. Nationalnett is the security reporter for the times papers. Alicia caldwell covers issues for the associated press. As we are taping, congress is in conference, considering legislation, addressing the spending request by the president. As the tea leaves are being read, there will be a stalemate between the house and senate and the break begins. Where does that put the president s border plans operationally if there is no money . Certainly we have concerns about that. I and customs and Border Protection alone we have surged , resources. In on a temporary cost and we have to pay for all of that. We have been paying Contract Services for transportation, food, etc. For the rest of the department of homeland security, immigration, customs enforcement, they certainly have cost, as have the departments of justice and health and human services. We very much need money to continue operating the way we are. Brian bennett . This week, three president s from Central America are in town, visiting with president obama and discussing what the countries can do to alleviate the crisis on the border. One proposal floated by the white house was a Processing Center in honduras. Do you think that would alleviate pressure on the border . It is really under the purview of the department of state. You know in the past, whether it was iraq or somewhere else, those kinds of things have been looked at. All of my concentration really has been on the border, getting these kids out from under the Border Patrol protection and getting them to someplace that actually is a bit more hospitable than a Border Patrol station. I think there is a lot of openness to what is point to what is going to stop this in the future. Barring a dramatic change, though the numbers have slowed in recent weeks, if the department does not get the supplemental budget request, the emergency budget request, what happens, what kicks into gear . Do Border Patrol agents go home . Do we see a dramatic shift in letting folks roam about as they want . What are the real technical implications . We know when we begin to run out of money, we need to do reprogramming. In the event the supplemental is not passed, we are going to have to reprogram some very important positions. We have a lot of things going on in customs and Border Protection, and of course the issues are not just about the protection of the southwest border, but also our trade and our cargo. We have huge investments in technology to speed up people traveling lawfully into United States. Technology advancements. Cargo advancements. There is money in those programs, that we would have to reprogram to keep the protection going on now at the southwest border. Can you be more specific what the impact is going to be . Our request is narrower than the larger supplemental request that is around 400 million. We are in the process of examining the programs where we would have to take money from them to pay the costs we have an already incurred. 400 million will have to come out of screening trucks and other vehicles . It would have to come from a number of places, Things Congress has already approved that are valuable, not only to the nation for a protective, but not just to protection, but really to the nations economy. In terms of the Child Migration issue, Texas Governor perry says he will do play up to he is going to deploy up to 1000 National Guard troops. We have seen troops down there before in 2006 and 2007. Back in 2010 under president obama. What can they do to work with you . Have they asked to work with you specifically . What are their limitations and aiding the situation . What i have seen in the announcement from the governor is 1000 National Guard troops from the state of texas would be deployed specifically to support the department of public safety, in other words the texas state troopers. They would be employed in a nonenforcement capacity, but they would serve in an observational post, etc. We would have a team down there that the president sent from the department of defense and the department of homeland security. They just returned this week to assess if there are any jobs the department of defense could do that would be helpful to the Border Patrol and our customs and Border Patrol officials down there. I have not seen the report. I am sure that it is a little ways away. The texas National Guard are not permitted to arrest people by law. What could they do down there . They would serve in a way as observers for the department of public safety. As you know, governor perry has already sent a little over 100 state troopers down to that area to work on the roadways