Rep. Jackson discussed the surges of migrants from Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela coming to the US due to poor economic conditions in those countries.
He argued America has exacerbated the problems by taking Cuba “out of the world economy” after placing it on the terrorist watchlist under Trump, causing 500,000 Cubans to leave.
Jackson said, “I think we have to look beyond Texas to figure out where the people are coming from. The economies in Haiti, in Cuba, in Venezuela are collapsing. So, there has been great migratory flight that’s coming through the Pan-American corridor all the way to Mexico. So, I don’t want people to pit the United States versus Mexico. These persons are fleeing countries.”
Jackson also contended US boycotts of Venezuela led 7 million people to leave there, with many migrating north.
“The question is, do we have an economic development plan for South and Central America, for our own neighborhoods? We have an ASEAN agreement, we have a NATO agreement, we have the European Union, what’s the deal for the Americas so we can keep people at home? … They’re only coming because they have no other place to go.”
“The door seems to be open to the world right now,” Fox News’ John Roberts said.
“Well, that’s a problem,” Jackson said.
Roberts added, “And the one thing the Biden administration doesn’t seem to be doing in terms of approaching this, at the moment, is, this is not just migration, this is a big business run by some very nasty Mexican cartels.”
While acknowledging cartels enabling migration are a problem, Jackson emphasized the need for economic development plans to help Central and South America to keep people in their home countries.
He pushed back against solely blaming Mexico, saying the migrants are fleeing difficult circumstances and will continue coming as long as conditions remain unsustainable in their home nations.
Jackson said, “Well, and those nefarious characters should be singled out and they should be shut down. But, if you look at what’s happened in Cuba, for example, and we have to deal with these case-by-case, Cuba, President Trump, when he was leaving out, put them on the terrorist watchlist. No other country in the world has put Cuba on a terrorist watchlist. We’ve taken them out of the world economy, if you will.”
“They’ve had 500,000 people…leave because the conditions are now unsustainable in their country. Look at what happened when we did boycotts on Venezuela, seven million people have had to leave that country. Where did they go? Almost four million went to Brazil, and others have tried to make their way up here.”
