About That Immigration Caravan Headed Here

What a stupid solution. This will only make things worse. Did you know the Trump administration reduced aid to Honduras so far this year to 1/10th of what they were receiving in 2017? Guatemala and El Salvador's both are receiving about 1/4 of what they use to get last year.

Call it what you like. Karma or self inflicted pain, but we can't solve this problem by military force or starving them out. The resolution lies in making their countries more livable through trade agreements (SAFTA) and dealing with these governments through the state department (not the pentagon). We once relied heavily on the state department negotiations to avoid these situations. Not just in this country but others with the problems they're seeing as well. Instead Donald is using the state department as a messenger to deliver threats to other nation's economies and our potential use of force. Obviously diplomacy is not in Trump's vocabulary.

Here's an immediate solution for the time being.
The United States should negotiate with one or more of these countries in setting up safe haven areas inside and just outside their borders for these people. Then work towards making economic deals to help these impoverished nations Eventually this would enable these immigrants to return once they felt it were safe enough and there were at least some economic opportunities in their home countries.

The reason people flee is because crime is rampant. Crime is the result of people turning to crime when all other hope is lost. Take for example South American agriculture. Farmers too poor to live off coffee beans, fruit/vegetables or tobacco will produce far more lucrative crops like cocaine, marijuana and heroin. Hence any wonder why drugs are flowing into this country? And of course what follows is all kinds of violence. What we have now is a situation where these immigrants fear less getting shot by our military then the people back home.

This isn't rocket science.
The solution to drugs and crime cannot be found at the end of a gun. We've been trying this for years and it's not working. What is needed is "fair trade" and enabling security not just for us but for them as well. We have a choice here. Either we spend 10x's as much to fight them off and/or detain them here. Or we could spend money to house them in their own countries where the economic costs would be a fraction we're likely spend under present policy.

Besides it's always better to make more friends then enemies.