Central American crime is our problem

I found this article on a respected website into the issues of crime in El Salvador. It suggest that as the increase in crime in el Salvador directly effects the us and that the first problem for President elect Barak Obama is to figure out away to stop the influx of new immigrants into the path of gangs and extortion. Yet how can the US help stop this influx when we were the ones that shipped criminals back to el Salvador with nothing to go back to. SO the social nor would be to stick with what you know and these people that were sent back knew Gangs offered a family structure to take care of their own. I wonder what other policies Barack might handle in his new administration that seem to have no answer

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – One of the first issues President-elect Barack Obama's transition team will look into when it starts mapping its Latin America policy: the wave of crime that is rocking much of the region and that is increasingly spreading into major U.S. cities.

According to a new study by U.N. Development Program economist Carlos Acevedo, Central America has the world's highest regional homicide rates, and several Caribbean and South American countries are not far behind.

El Salvador's homicide rate of 68 killings a year per 100,000 inhabitants – the world's highest, after Iraq – is followed within the region by Guatemala, with 45 homicides; Colombia and Honduras with 43; and Venezuela with 41. By comparison, the U.S. homicide rate is 5.7, the study says.

And from what I heard from international experts and government officials during a recent visit, a major increase in the number of U.S. deportations of undocumented migrants with criminal records is swelling the ranks of the unemployed in Central America and further driving up crime rates.

"A friend of mine was robbed at gunpoint on a bus three times within one week," Mr. Acevedo told me. "I've been luckier: I have only been robbed once, also at gunpoint, when I stopped my car at a red light."

I asked several law enforcement experts here what the Obama administration should do. Most agreed that Central America is getting too little of the $400 million Merída Initiative U.S. aid package to help combat violence in Mexico and Central America. They also complained that most of the U.S. aid is focused on anti-drug equipment rather than on crime prevention.

It's time to step up transnational anti-gang efforts, take stronger actions to prevent U.S. arms trafficking and change the focus of U.S. anti-crime measures toward more education and crime prevention programs.

Increasingly, crime in Central America has become far more than a local issue. Increasingly, it's a U.S. problem.

for origianl article please referance fromthe dallas morning star http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-oppenheimer_24edi.State.Edition1.1acb7d5.html