During a portion of an interview with ABC News aired on Wednesday’s edition of “Nightline,” Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.S. Embassy in Colombia Brendan O’Brien stated that increasing legal pathways, including potentially increasing “opportunities for asylum into the United States” is one solution to the influx of Venezuelan migrants being discussed by the Biden administration.
O’Brien said, “We have to give credit to countries like Colombia. They have given temporary protected status to more than 2.5 million Venezuelans. They are providing health care. They are providing education. So, that is a part of the solution, the integration of migrants into these countries throughout Latin America. It’s a regional approach, and we need to support it.”
ABC News Correspondent Matt Rivers then played a clip where he asked, “What do you think is missing from the conversation in the United States when we’re talking about easing the crisis at the border?”
O’Brien responded, “We’re looking at expanding legal pathways, and that would be work visas or opportunities for asylum into the United States, right? And then, in the long-term, I think it’s really important for the U.S. taxpayer to understand that their investment overseas at these embassies is really paying off, because it’s a lot less expensive to address this issue in these countries than it is at the U.S. border.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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