Region. While the administration cites a drop in the children, the fact is that the conditions in el salvador, honduras, and guatemala continue to be very grave. I convened the second hearing because my colleagues and i are mindful of the high levels of Gang Violence and the lack of opportunity right here in our hemisphere, not only affects the lives of millions in Central America, but affects the United States too, as weve seen. Indeed, the pursuit of peace and prosperity throughout the western hemisphere should be a Key National Security objective of the United States. As round reagan said back in 1984, Central America is a region of great importance to the United States, and it is so close. Since salvador is closer to houston, texas, than houston is to washington, d. C. Ive consistently been supportive of u. S. Efforts to assist the region to build capacity to strengthen their Respective Police forces so they can build better confront the high levels of criminality brought on by gangs and Drug Trafficking organizations. Between 2005 and 2012, there was a 340 increase in murders of women and children in honduras. While el salvador to maintains the worlds highest rate of homicides against women and girls, guatemala ranks third. There is widespread mistrust of Law Enforcement and impunity rates as high as 95 . In addition to the need for stepping up Capacity Building for Law Enforcement, all three of these northern triangle countries lack stable institutions and are plagued by corruption, so u. S. Efforts to improve governance are imperative. The question remains, however, and this is why ive convened the second hearing, in this time of tight budget, are we evaluating each and every individual program that we fund applying metrics and determining what works and what doesnt work . I had asked during the last hearing for usaid to provide me with specific program by Program Metrics and to this date have yet to receive the information in its entirety. I am aware of the vanderbilt study, a 3. 5 million study to evaluate some of usaids program in the region. Unfortunately, the study does not provide us with project by project evaluations and cost benefit analysis, and that may not be available right now. Ive said this before, the u. S. Taxpayer is very generous and wants to help the people of el salvador and honduras find a path to peace and prosperity in their respective countries. However, they also demand that we spend their hardearned taxpayer money wisely and achievable excuse me, and achieve measurable results. As a result, we must acknowledge the previous programs in Central America have failed. Despite u. S. Investments, these countries continue to flail and these failures ultimately contributed to the crisis along our border. It is our responsibility and yours to ensure that going forward, that we have very serious buyin and political will from each of these three countries, and every agency involved in administering programs need to be accountable for the effectiveness of each specific program. The goal is to help empower these countries to improve governance and build prosperity so they can prosper there. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration continues to incentivize the maximum exodus of citizens from those countries by changing immigration policy by decree. On friday, Vice President biden announced an incountry refugee Processing Program as part of a strategy to deal with the unaccompanied minor crisis. At first glance, the idea is a very good one. Weve all talked about the treacherous journey these children must make to get to our border. So offering those people who might qualify for Refugee Status the opportunity to apply in their countries would be a good way to dissuade them from otherwise traveling up our southern border. Upon closer inspection, however, it appears that this program is yet another example of president obamas flouting of i am nation law. This newly announced Program AllowsFamily Members present in the United States under varying statuses, including deferred action, to petition for children and spouses in Central America to be interviewed for Refugee Status. If theyre knowledgeable, this allows for humanitarian paroles on a case by case basis. It is very important that the state Departments Bureau of population refugees and migration provided a answer to the many questions my colleagues and i have about this new al announced incountry processing, particularly to understand the criteria being applied to both refugee and parole eligibility. The answer to questions plaguing the region is not to further incentivize citizens of el salvador, guatemala and honduras to leave. Rather, we should double down on serious efforts to empower people of the region to achieve lasting peace and prosperity in their country. Using this crisis to attempt to create favor for political gain is wrong. Sadly, i believe that that might be what the president is doing. Im looking forward to hearing from each of our witnesses about what their specific agency or bureau is doing to address the crisis with the seriousness that it deserves and assistant secretary jacobson, thank you for being with us today, miss hogan and miss kaplan, and i look forward to hearing how assistance programs can be refocused on income generation and Economic Development to help provide empowerment and opportunity to the citizens of Central America, and anyway, id like to offer an opportunity for opening comments by my colleagues as well. Representative duncan . I want to thank chairman salmon, very timely hearing. And i want to note on the outset im encouraged by the willingness to Work Together to address the fact theyre contributing to the Child Migration crisis we saw on our southern border earlier this year, which saw more than 68,500 unaccompanied minors apprehended between october 1 of last year and september 30 this year. Its a 77 increase compared to fiscal year 2013. While theres a lot of good in their plan, im concerned that the plan does not address corruption, security, rule of law enough t. Appears to be a centralized topdown approach that does not empower municipalities or individual citizens, and its a uniform approach for the three very Different Countries with varying political wills. Additionally, in june, Vice President biden announced that the u. S. Would provide 9. 6 million in Central America, to Central America. In july, they requested an additional 3hundred million for programs. Im interested to know what the strategy for Central America and latin america and the caribbean region in general is before we start increasing the flow of money. Im deeply concerned and alarmed by this administrations attempt to back door amnesty through the new refugee and Parole Program, which allows children and their parents who have a partner or spouse in the u. S. , that is a deferred action for childhood arrivals or daca recipient, granted for at least one year or deferred and departure recipient to initiate a refugee application. I look forward to Digging Deeper into that during the question and answer period today. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you. I yield to the gentleman from florida. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Thanks to the witnesses for coming. Before we get into this, this is the first time this committee has met i believe since we were here at the very end of september for a very important issue that you really led on trying to get our marine back from mexico. I just wanted to, one, just publicly say how thankful we are that hes back, but two, to thank you for your leadership on this. I bugged you on the house floor numerous times, you know, and i know you were frustrated about how long it was taking, but you never let that deter you. You stayed with it. You were traveling down there to meet with them, and i can tell you my constituents in florida were really pumped when he came back. A lot of that has to do with your hard work. Would the gentleman yield . I will. I want to say after having met the sergeant when he came home, and followed up on numerous occasions with friends and family, im very, very worried about him, and ive mentioned this. Id just like to ask anybody out there in the sound of our voice to pray for him and to offer your support, because hes going to need all the help he can get. He was already diagnosed with the tsd, and the seven months in prison only made it worse, and im very concerned about his wellbeing. Hes a very troubled young man, and he needs our thoughts and our prayers. I agree wholeheartedly with that. Our veterans, when they come back with the post traumatic stress, its very difficult, but then to be put in that situation where that condition is being exacerbated, we all need to keep him in our thoughts and prayers, because its not going to be easy for him. I wanted to publicly thank you for your determination and i think that this committee had a lot to do with it under your leadership. I yield back. Thank you very much. The members of the subcommittee will be permitted to submit written statements to be included in the official hearing record, and without objection, the hearing record will remain open for seven days to allow statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record subject to the length, limitation and the rules. Im going to introduce the panel now. First of all, we have the honorable roberta jacobson, the assistant secretary for the western Hemisphere Affairs at the department of state. Shes also served as the senior coordinator for initiatives in the western hemisphere and is deputy chief of mission at the u. S. Embassy in lima, peru. And on a personal note, ive not found in my political and professional experience anybody that i enjoyed working with more than her. She is a professional in every way and has a big heart and a big mind, and im so appreciative of all the great work that youve done, and i just want you to know theres a lot of good will emanating from committee members. We might differ on policy and have questions, but we never, ever have a trust gap with you and what i want you to know that from the bottom of the heart. Ms. Hogan, another stellar individual that weve just been thrilled to be working with, at acting assistant administrator for u. S. Agency for International Development bureau for latin america and the caribbean. Previously she served as the director of the Haiti Task Team overseeing reconstruction efforts after the 2010 earthquake, and we thank you for being here. Mr. Robert kaplan is the president and c. E. O. Of the interamerican foundation. He worked at the Development Bank in the division for mexico, Central America, Dominican Republic and haiti. We also have ms. Weisner, the Deputy Assistant secretary, and shes here in an advisory capacity, and we appreciate that. She is Deputy Assistant secretary in the bureau population at the state department. Previously she worked at the pentagon in African Affairs division and as a consultant in the field of humanitarian process. You all understand and know the lighting system. It will be green until the last minute, and then it will go amber, and it will let you know that youve got a minute left, and then when it goes red, youre out of time and wed appreciate you conclude there. And then well have questions from members. So ms. Jacobson, ill recognize you first. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me start by associating myself with the comments. I think that for all of us who worked to get the sergeant home, we greatly appreciate your leadership in this matter. Id like to thank you and the members of the committee for being here today to talk about the u. S. Strategy for engagement in Central America. I know that many of you, and you personally, mr. Chairman, have been so involved in our efforts to develop a humane and Effective Response to the unaccompanied children and families arriving at our southwest border. Although were encouraged that the numbers have decreased recently, we know we cannot let up in our efforts to protect vulnerable migrants and address the underlying factors that push them north. This year has noted more than 50,000 unaccompanied children left their homes to make that journey, and the snake migration is a warning sign that longstanding challenges in Central America remain very problematic. We must address the underlying factors compelling migration or we are doomed to repeat that migration. But we believe that the essential condition for finding a solution is present and that is political will in the region. Last week the interamerican Development Bank hosted a conference on Central America where Vice President biden and the president s from the three northern triangle countries spoke about opportunities and challenges for growth. The president publicly presented a plan called at lines for prosperity, and it includes an assessment for the specific steps that they themselves will take to resolve them. But their message at the conference was simple. They will take those tough choices to address the challenges, but they need our help. So over the past 18 months, the u. S. Government has taken a hard look at both our approach and our investments. While security is paramount, we have broadened our vision for how to achieve it and developed a strategy that both allianz and supports the objectives of the alliance for prosperity. On to achieve that vision in which all the citizens in Central America choose to remain and thrive in those countries, we need to focus on prosperity, governance, and security. Prosperity agenda fosters integration of a regional market of 43 Million People so that local businesses can become more competitive and the region attract i have to international investors. Economic growth and Economic Opportunity has to give young people options beyond criminality or immigration. Our governance agenda recognizes that Economic Growth and security are only sustainable when the rule of law and Democratic Institutions flourish and Civil Society and media can play their rightful roles and anticorruption is reduced. And the prosperity and governance agendas are essential for the security agenda, which we must act on effectively now, otherwise the payoff from those other two will not bear fruit in the longer term. We are a long way from achieving those goals in Central America, and that was obvious last summer in the risk that thousands of children took, the risk of ever present rape, abuse, and death to flee the dire conditions in their home countries. But mr. Chairman, over the past few months, we have seen importance successes. Our public messaging campaigns about the dangers of those journeys has effectively countered false messages, increased focus on Smuggling Networks in honduras and guatemala has led to the arrest and rescue of over 235 children, and the government of mexico has been a vital and capable partner. Apprehensions are down to levels not seen since january 2013. But we know that this must be sustained by increased commitments by both the administration and congress, and so, yes, we have, as one alternative, offered at the direction of the white house a new program that will allow parents lawfully present in the United States from those three countries to petition for their children in el salvador, guatemala and honduras to come to the United States as refugees. Those children not eligible for Refugee Status may be considered on a case by case basis for humanitarian parole. Its important we fund the implementation of this strategy, which could take as much as 5 billion over five years to fully implement. We believe again that there is reason for optimism about Central America. The three leaders of the northern triangle have already begun to take tough decisions and are investing their own national budget. We have a vision and a plan, and we want to work with you to help Central America and protect u. S. National security. Thank you very much. We move to mr. Kaplan. I am sorry, ms. Hogan, sorry. Thank you. Members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to share how u. S. Aid is responding to the challenge of unaccompanied minors migrating from Central America to the u. S. Border. Our response to this challenge is consent with