Dem Rep. Jonathan Jackson: We Have to Lift Sanctions to Deal with Migrant Surge

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Way Too Early,” Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) blamed the surge in migrants on stricter American policy towards Cuba at the end of the first Trump administration and stricter policy on Venezuela and a lack of normalization with Haiti and argued that “We have to normalize trade, stop putting so many sanctions on people and disqualifying countries.”

Jackson said, [relevant remarks begin around 34:10] “[Y]ou’re not talking about Mexico. You’re talking about our policy with South and Central America that has to be re-examined. As President Trump was leaving office, he put additional sanctions, called Cuba terrorists. What did that do? That sent 500,000 people off of the island, because we have not normalized and have an economic plan to go into Haiti, that is sending people off of the island. After they said they were going to run Maduro out of Venezuela, 7 million people left the country. Maduro did not leave. People have come up the Pan-American Highway. … This is not Mexico’s problem. This is a hemisphere problem that has to [do] with the Pan-American Highway. We have to normalize trade, stop putting so many sanctions on people and disqualifying countries.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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