The balance of trade in misery is hard to measure. The United States is importing inordinate suffering with the increasing numbers of victims fleeing Central American violence. More than 52,000 unaccompanied minors have recently entered the U.S. and sparked the latest immigration crisis.

People are rafted across the Suchiate River to the shore at Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, from Tecun Uman, Guatemala, earlier this month.

On the export side, guns and gangs are mainly U.S. products that infect Central American societies and are to blame for much of the extreme violence and corruption down south. The exported means of violence, combined with hopeless economies, drive kids into the arms of dangerous mercenary escort “coyotes” and their promise to lead them north to safety and opportunity. (read more)