To Stop the Refugees Stop the Root Cause of the Problem - Which isn't the Border

I have been to Honduras, now the murder capital of the world. It is one of just three countries in Central America where extraordinary levels of violence from gangs ruling the streets stalks these desperate women and children. Unlike the economic illegals coming from countries like Mexico, these refugees are running for their lives instead of coming here for work.

That is a huge difference.  They seek only safety from the murderous gangs walking past their homes in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador--the only three countries in the Americas with this problem. That should be your first clue for a solution. Why have these three countries run off the rails, and not the rest?

Has it occurred to people that the issues we are dealing with everyday are GLOBAL issues --from Iraq to Honduras refugees? The problems originate outside of our borders. That means solving it requires global knowledge and a solution beyond our border. To stop the refugees we have to stop the ROOT cause of the problem - which isn't the Border!

Look at this map - and how far the women and children have to go, most of it through Mexico.

How many in Congress have actually been in Central America and have a clue what is happening there?

I was sent on my first overseas trip to Nicaragua --right before its leader (Somoza) was deposed and President Reagan fired up the Contra war. I saw it unfolding and the attempts to suck us in (that journey is one of many strange travels that unfold in "Better Times Ahead April Fool" my Ebook.) I have been to Belize, which is also getting refugees from Honduras.

Have you seen any Congress member Propose a REAL SOLUTION? Denying entry into the U.S. or sending these refugees back to their home country guarantees death. That is not a "real" solution; it is certainly not a human one.

We aren't hearing any real solutions from Congress because they don't live in the real world and don't have any.  I have worked in over 50 countries to date in a world of 200. International travel gives you insights, insights I would not have if I had stayed on a farm in Iowa.

"Closing the border" to little kids isn't humanitarian and won't fix the real problem until the violence in Honduras is addressed and stopped. That violence is sending these waves of women and children our way.  Government failure in those three countries is allowing this. Why can't they operate like surrounding countries?

Until that issue is addressed by the government of Honduras and El Salvador and our State Department we will continue to face the inhuman prospect of sending these terrified vulnerable people back to certain death -- or keeping all of them in the U.S.

To "fix" it we must get these countries to address the reason the women and children are coming here in the first place - fear for their safety back home.

As an entrepreneur in America and across the planet if I didn't have a solution to whatever problems came up (and they always do) I was screwed. I had to invent a solution, while keeping my wits, remaining calm and focused. Our Congress needs to learn how to do that.  It does require creative thinking, and action, which may be the problem.

Many in Congress focus totally on sending these women and children back to cities of death and despair.  None have addressed "fixing" the source problem - the violent gangs controlling and killing their kids in Honduras. The same gangs are running amok in Guatemala and El Salvador where the other refugees are coming from.

If you want to see what I saw in Honduras, and the Middle East, its in "Better Times Ahead April Fool"

Its true stories (think international Tom Sawyer, Indiana Jones) include:

• What it was like working inside the bizarre Dick Cheney's Halliburton sister company, Brown & Root (first job I had)

• Taking Texas entrepreneurs to Nigeria for an oil deal that involve witchcraft

and "juju" sticks

• Being the legal negotiator in Syria for a Texas mom whose 12 year old daughter was taken to the Mideast without her consent

• Dodging international fraudsters in Amsterdam and Brussels in Europe via "Some Like it Hot"

• Being kidnapped in East Texas after an emergency landing an aircraft I was flying due to an electrical failure. It saved my life

• Running as the underdog against the most powerful Congressman of his day, Tom DeLay, and Living to Tell. Now I know what needs to be done to fix the system.

• Running a Blockage of French Roads to Get a Texas Entrepreneur to EuroDisney in Paris when all the roads were blocked by farmers...

And much more...

 "Better Times Ahead April Fool"
(title comes from a sign I once saw in India at 2 a.m. in a wild taxi ride to the airport that still fits to this day).