MSNBC’s Victoria DeFrancesco Soto Calls for a ‘Marshall Plan’ to Stop Migrants from Central America

MSNBC contributor Victoria DeFrancesco Soto said Wednesday the United States should institute an aid program akin to the Marshall Plan to stem the tide of illegal immigrants from Central America.

“Joe, if I had a magic wand, I would institute a Marshall Plan for Central America,” Soto said in a segment with MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “we need economic aid, but targeted economic aid, just as it was in Europe after the war. It’s not throwing cash at a problem. It’s working with these governments. It’s working with the non-profits and the other nongovernmental institutions to stabilize.”

The Marshall Plan involved the U.S. sending $12 billion in economic aid to countries in Western Europe after World War II. Adjusted for inflation, the sum was equivalent to more than $130 billion today.

The plan has also become a common frame of reference for MSNBC guests in recent days. Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) told the network’s Stephanie Ruhle last week that he believed such a plan was needed in addition to an effort to dismantle regional drug cartels.

“It also has to do with climate change,” Soto claimed. “That’s a long-term issue, but we know that in Guatemala in particular, the droughts of the last several years have pushed out the coffee farmers, the peasant farmers — and, quite frankly food insecurity is one of the big reasons. So if it were up to me, Joe, a Marshall Plan, and that’s where we invest our money instead of throwing money at the border.

Watch above via MSNBC.