- Thanks Frank and just to correct the record
the brain child or who's brain child this is
extends not only to the U.S. delegation and department
but also the Mexican representatives in their departments
because this came, the thinking behind this conference
yesterday and today came as a result of a trip
that myself and Secretary of State Tillerson made to
Mexico very early in the Trump administration
and it just seemed like a great idea
to come together and do this kind of thing for a reason.
Good morning again and I want to special thanks
to Kurt Tidd and his team for putting all this
together for us and for hosting us.
As I mentioned yesterday, security
and prosperity go hand-in-hand
and you can't have one without the other.
In putting together this conference,
some people will raise the question why,
why is DHS, why is the United States administration,
why is the Mexican government interested
in security in this region of the world, in Central America?
And the answer is, of course, we have everything to do
with this region of the world.
It's all about our border security, it's about drugs,
it's about human trafficking, it's about human smuggling,
it's combating mass migration,
it's taking on environmental issues
and taking on transnational criminal organizations
and their network, it's stopping counterfeit goods,
it's facilitating legal trade and travel.
I want to emphasize that, facilitating legal
travel and legal commerce.
In a very large part of our Homeland,
U.S. Homeland Security mission
is affected directly by what goes on in Central America
and frankly, throughout South America.
The other part of the answer lies,
relates rather, to me personally,
before as Frank mentioned I was,
Homeland Security for five months now,
which seems like five years frankly but,
my last job in the United States Military was commanding,
the privilege of commanding here in Miami
at the United States Southern Command.
During that period I saw first hand,
that violence was going to our Central American neighbors.
Our job's different than now than it was at SouthCom
with my work with our Central American neighbors
made me believe that our security
is directly related to their security.
As I said in my confirmation hearing,
border security in the United States
begins 1500 miles to the south,
that is with we're partnering with great, great friends,
Mexico, the Central American Republics,
all the way down to the tip of South America.
A lot of the security problems we face today,
this region of the world faces today
are directly related to the U.S. national demand for drugs
and our use of drugs, our demand for drugs
and result of that is devastating violence
in many of the countries to our south,
great men and women in uniform from Mexico south,
police, military, losing their lives,
not to mention, journalists,
not to mention, public service losing their lives
because of the demand for drugs in the United States.
Our own country, last year the United States
set a terrible new record for the highest level
of drug deaths in our recorded history.
Drug overdose is now the leading cause of death
for Americans under the age of 50.
Let me say that again, drug overdose is now
the leading cause of death for Americans
under the age of 50.
More than 60,000 people died of drug overdoses last year,
that's higher than all lives taken in the Vietnam War
and in the Korean War.
This demand funnels billions and billions of dollars
to drug cartels and transnational
criminal organizations to the south.
In turn, the transnational criminal organizations
act with unbelievable, unbridled violence
in corruption to ourself.
In this environment people look for a way out,
thinking they were saving their kid from violence parents
sent their precious children home to the United States.
Nearly a decade of lax border security, internal security
sent the message that if you could get to the United States,
stay in the United States, instead
many of them, these children,
these immigrants that came to the United States wittingly
was then horribly in to a dangerous underground network.
In these networks, young men were
often captured and forced in to cartel work,
young women, raped and sold in to the sex trade.
If you're lucky, a woman told me once,
at a re-integration center in a Central American country,
if you're lucky, you're really supported
during this this trip north, if you're unlucky, you die,
if you're unlucky, you're sexually molested
and they beat you.
We're sending a message by this conference,
please do not make this dangerous journey.
The days of weak border enforcement
and I say border enforcement inside the United States,
we're trying to give citizens of the region
from this conference today and yesterday an option.
An option to stay home, have some safety and security
and have some economic opportunity.
Make no mistake, the United States
is an immigrant-friendly place, 1.1 million
wonderful people come to our shores every year
and begin the process of becoming citizens
but the come to our shore legally.
There's nothing more, and I'll close with this,
there's nothing more that I'd like to see
come out of this conference, yesterday and today,
nothing more than to have countries we focused on
have more opportunity for their citizens, that's key.
By the same token, countries we're focused on
have less and less and less violence within their borders.
When I first took the job here at SouthCom,
five years ago, people were telling me that,
"What you're trying to do in Central America
is not possible because of the violence,
because of what drugs and drug trafficking
has done to those countries."
I used to say, "Look at the miracle of Columbia,
look at what they were 20 years ago
and look at where they are today."
I would have to say as I look at the violence figures,
there's three other variables
that have taken place in this region,
El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Five years ago, they were the three most dangerous countries
on the planet, the highest murder rates on the planet,
their efforts to deal with the security issues,
the corruption issues and the economic issues,
for their efforts they have cut,
in some cases, violence by 40%.
The minimum they've cut violence is by over 30%,
that is in fact a miracle, we're watching a miracle happen.
So my hope out of this conference,
is that the economic development and opportunity goes up
and by this day, we talk about ways the violence can go down
but I think they're actually seeing,
already watching three miracles take place.
With that, Frank, I'll turn it back over to you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you, welcome,
and let's have a great discussion today.
( audience applause)
- [Frank] Thank you Secretary Kelly.