Dallas (1080 KRLD) - The head of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative held a conference Tuesday on the increase in migrants at the U.S. border. Matthew Rooney hosted the conference with representatives from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The Bush Institute has sent a list of policy recommendations to Congress on how to help Central American countries build stronger economies.
The institute also sent recommendations to Central American governments on how to make government and financial services more transparent.
Guillermo Pena, chairman of Fundacion Eleutera in Honduras, said human traffickers have used the change in administration to increase business, saying cartels have said the U.S. has opened its border.
"We know that's not necessarily true," Pena said. "Maybe clarifying migration signals, what is true and what isn't. That should be a top priority."
Claudia Umana, vice president of FUSADES, a group that tries to build economic and social relations in El Salvador, says gender inequality is also fueling migration to the border.
"I totally believe this is an issue we should be addressing," she says
Umana cited a report by the U.N. showing 67% of women have been victims of violence in El Salvador but only 6% report it. She says desperation is leading women and families to leave their homes.
Umana said the number of teen pregnancies in Central America can contribute to a "cycle of poverty." The panel said nations like China would try to exploit that poverty to gain economic influence in the region, and partnerships with the United States help build national security and future prosperity.
"A commitment to values, principles, democracy, rule of law and transparency, no country like China or Russia can ever substitute," she said.
Rooney, the managing director of the George W. Bush-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, said the Biden Administration and Congress should work together to find solutions to build Central American economies.
"What I heard today was a set of complex and common concerns from governance to gender equality issues to investment promotion issues," he said.
Rooney said stronger Central American economies would then lead to a stronger economy in the U.S by creating additional markets to export finished goods.
"There's a great to-do list here in terms of issues that have to be resolved in order for more people in these countries to find a future in their home countries," he said.
In turn, he said that would reduce pressure on the U.S. border.
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