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- Thanks Frank and just to correct the record

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the brain child or who's brain child this is

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extends not only to the U.S. delegation and department

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but also the Mexican representatives in their departments

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because this came, the thinking behind this conference

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yesterday and today came as a result of a trip

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that myself and Secretary of State Tillerson made to

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Mexico very early in the Trump administration

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and it just seemed like a great idea

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to come together and do this kind of thing for a reason.

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Good morning again and I want to special thanks

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to Kurt Tidd and his team for putting all this

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together for us and for hosting us.

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As I mentioned yesterday, security

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and prosperity go hand-in-hand

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and you can't have one without the other.

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In putting together this conference,

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some people will raise the question why,

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why is DHS, why is the United States administration,

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why is the Mexican government interested

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in security in this region of the world, in Central America?

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And the answer is, of course, we have everything to do

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with this region of the world.

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It's all about our border security, it's about drugs,

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it's about human trafficking, it's about human smuggling,

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it's combating mass migration,

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it's taking on environmental issues

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and taking on transnational criminal organizations

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and their network, it's stopping counterfeit goods,

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it's facilitating legal trade and travel.

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I want to emphasize that, facilitating legal

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travel and legal commerce.

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In a very large part of our Homeland,

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U.S. Homeland Security mission

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is affected directly by what goes on in Central America

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and frankly, throughout South America.

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The other part of the answer lies,

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relates rather, to me personally,

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before as Frank mentioned I was,

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Homeland Security for five months now,

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which seems like five years frankly but,

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my last job in the United States Military was commanding,

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the privilege of commanding here in Miami

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at the United States Southern Command.

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During that period I saw first hand,

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that violence was going to our Central American neighbors.

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Our job's different than now than it was at SouthCom

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with my work with our Central American neighbors

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made me believe that our security

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is directly related to their security.

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As I said in my confirmation hearing,

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border security in the United States

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begins 1500 miles to the south,

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that is with we're partnering with great, great friends,

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Mexico, the Central American Republics,

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all the way down to the tip of South America.

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A lot of the security problems we face today,

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this region of the world faces today

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are directly related to the U.S. national demand for drugs

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and our use of drugs, our demand for drugs

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and result of that is devastating violence

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in many of the countries to our south,

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great men and women in uniform from Mexico south,

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police, military, losing their lives,

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not to mention, journalists,

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not to mention, public service losing their lives

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because of the demand for drugs in the United States.

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Our own country, last year the United States

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set a terrible new record for the highest level

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of drug deaths in our recorded history.

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Drug overdose is now the leading cause of death

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for Americans under the age of 50.

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Let me say that again, drug overdose is now

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the leading cause of death for Americans

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under the age of 50.

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More than 60,000 people died of drug overdoses last year,

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that's higher than all lives taken in the Vietnam War

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and in the Korean War.

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This demand funnels billions and billions of dollars

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to drug cartels and transnational

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criminal organizations to the south.

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In turn, the transnational criminal organizations

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act with unbelievable, unbridled violence

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in corruption to ourself.

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In this environment people look for a way out,

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thinking they were saving their kid from violence parents

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sent their precious children home to the United States.

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Nearly a decade of lax border security, internal security

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sent the message that if you could get to the United States,

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stay in the United States, instead

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many of them, these children,

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these immigrants that came to the United States wittingly

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was then horribly in to a dangerous underground network.

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In these networks, young men were

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often captured and forced in to cartel work,

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young women, raped and sold in to the sex trade.

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If you're lucky, a woman told me once,

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at a re-integration center in a Central American country,

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if you're lucky, you're really supported

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during this this trip north, if you're unlucky, you die,

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if you're unlucky, you're sexually molested

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and they beat you.

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We're sending a message by this conference,

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please do not make this dangerous journey.

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The days of weak border enforcement

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and I say border enforcement inside the United States,

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we're trying to give citizens of the region

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from this conference today and yesterday an option.

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An option to stay home, have some safety and security

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and have some economic opportunity.

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Make no mistake, the United States

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is an immigrant-friendly place, 1.1 million

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wonderful people come to our shores every year

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and begin the process of becoming citizens

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but the come to our shore legally.

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There's nothing more, and I'll close with this,

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there's nothing more that I'd like to see

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come out of this conference, yesterday and today,

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nothing more than to have countries we focused on

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have more opportunity for their citizens, that's key.

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By the same token, countries we're focused on

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have less and less and less violence within their borders.

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When I first took the job here at SouthCom,

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five years ago, people were telling me that,

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"What you're trying to do in Central America

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is not possible because of the violence,

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because of what drugs and drug trafficking

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has done to those countries."

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I used to say, "Look at the miracle of Columbia,

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look at what they were 20 years ago

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and look at where they are today."

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I would have to say as I look at the violence figures,

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there's three other variables

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that have taken place in this region,

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El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

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Five years ago, they were the three most dangerous countries

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on the planet, the highest murder rates on the planet,

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their efforts to deal with the security issues,

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the corruption issues and the economic issues,

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for their efforts they have cut,

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in some cases, violence by 40%.

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The minimum they've cut violence is by over 30%,

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that is in fact a miracle, we're watching a miracle happen.

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So my hope out of this conference,

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is that the economic development and opportunity goes up

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and by this day, we talk about ways the violence can go down

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but I think they're actually seeing,

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already watching three miracles take place.

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With that, Frank, I'll turn it back over to you.

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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you, welcome,

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and let's have a great discussion today.

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( audience applause)

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- [Frank] Thank you Secretary Kelly.