Donald Trump Jr. Claims Latinos In The U.S. Would Be ‘Grateful If Trump Liberated Venezuela’: ‘They Escaped That Crap Once’

Donald Trump Jr. agreed with a claim on Wednesday that all Latinos in the U.S. would be “grateful” if his father “liberated” Venezuela, as tensions linger with the U.S.’s deployment of troops and assets of the South American country’s coast.

Speaking on his show “Triggered,” Trump Jr. said that “immigration votes go one way” and “there is a reason for that.” “Some of the most patriotic Americans in the Latino community I know are from Venezuela (…) They vote for Trump because they escaped that crap once, they don’t want to do it again and frankly there’s nowhere else to go,” Trump Jr. added.

Trump has reportedly ended all diplomatic outreach to Venezuela, instructing envoy Richard Grenell to cease all efforts as he grows frustrated with authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro’s reluctance to relinquish power.

Trump is also frustrated that Maduro keeps rejecting any ties with drug cartels, the New York Times added. Officials told the outlet that the administration has drawn up multiple military plans for an eventual escalation.

So far, the U.S. military has conducted at least four strikes on vessels it claimed were trafficking drugs that would ultimately end up in the U.S. However, some of the new plans could also seek the ousting of Maduro, the outlet added.

CNN also reported that the Department of Justice released a secret opinion justifying strikes against cartels and suspected drug traffickers. Concretely, the opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel claims that Trump is allowed to authorize deadly force against the targets because they pose an imminent threat to Americans, the outlet noted.

However, Democrats are increasingly voicing their opposition to the strikes. Senator dam Schiff anticipated that he, along with colleague Tim Kaine, will force a vote to block them. Moreover, lawmakers in the House Foreign Affairs committee criticized the administration, saying Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are “pushing for regime change” in the country.

“The American people don’t want another war—and Congress can’t let any president start one illegally or unilaterally. That’s not how the Constitution works,” lawmakers in the House Foreign Affairs committee said in a social media post.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul also said he will join Democratic colleagues in sponsoring a bill seeking to prevent the administration from conducting strikes. “We can’t have a policy where we just blow up ships where we don’t even know the people’s names,” Paul said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “It can’t be the policy for drug interdiction, either in the country or outside the country,” he added.

Originally published on Latin Times