President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on
Monday reiterated that the U.S. was working to bring home Americans stranded in
countries like Peru and Honduras, but Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said more should be done.
The U.S. Embassy in Peru tweeted on Monday night that an
additional 259 U.S. citizens had left the country, bringing the total to almost
800 that have so far have been able to get out.
Trump also said Monday evening, “Overnight, we successfully
brought home 103 American citizens after they had been stranded for 10 days in
Brazil, following a cruise.”
Pompeo tweeted on Monday, “Americans traveling abroad face unprecedented challenges. The @StateDept is responding to this challenge to get
all #AmericansHome safely.”
Pompeo had tweeted Sunday that the department “is working
around the clock to identify transportation options for U.S. citizens stranded
by the #COVID19 crisis and seeking to return home.”
Trump said in a White House briefing Sunday, “We’re working
very hard -- long -- on getting a young group of people out of Peru. We’ve
removed some, and the rest are being removed with the cooperation of the
Peruvian government. And we’re also
dealing with Honduras on getting some people out that got caught up.”
Sen. Menendez called on the Trump administration
to do more, urging it to charter commercial flights to evacuate American
citizens abroad. He asked the president to direct the Department of Defense to make
U.S. military aircraft available for the evacuation and said there are “tens of
thousands of Americans stranded abroad.”
“With the State Department having issued a level 4 travel advisory,
commercial airlines canceling numerous flights and many countries now imposing
travel restrictions and border closures, tens of thousands of American citizens
are stranded, unable to return to the United States without the direct
intervention of their government,” he wrote. “While I agree in theory that
commercial flight options are preferable for all citizens wishing to return, as
your administration has argued, that is not a feasible solution as there are
insufficient commercial flights available due to the current crisis, especially
in countries that have closed their borders.
“No American should ever have to worry that they might be
abandoned abroad by our government,” Menendez added. “As we work together to
confront this unprecedented pandemic, we must provide Americans overseas the
support that they need.”
He also said that at a time when U.S. commercial carriers
are “seeking unprecedented financial assistance from US taxpayers” and much of
their fleet is idle, he expects that U.S. airlines would be “willing and able
to step into the breach and work with the Department of State to provide the
necessary support to bring American citizens home.”