Chairman Sires, Bipartisan Congressional Leaders Commend High Representative Mogherini’s Leadership and Urge Continued U.S.-EU Cooperation to Address the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, and Trade, led a bipartisan letter with Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and eleven other members of Congress, commending European Commission High Representative Federica Mogherini for convening a solidarity conference on the Venezuela migrant crisis and underscoring the need for additional support for Venezuelan migrants and refugees throughout the region:

“The Maduro-made crisis has forced 4.4 million Venezuelans to flee their country and strained public resources in countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Colombia has been particularly impacted, taking in more than 1.4 million Venezuelan migrants. While the response of the Colombian people has been exemplary, and the United States and its allies have provided significant humanitarian support already, the international community will need to do even more to assist receiving countries as this crisis drags on.

“I greatly appreciate High Representative Mogherini’s leadership in convening this week’s solidarity conference on Venezuela. I hope the conference fosters increased cooperation between the United States and European Union and renews our collective commitment to supporting Venezuelan migrants for as long as it takes until they can safely return to a free and democratic Venezuela.”

The full text of the letter is here