Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke has called on the Trump administration to immediately end U.S. military action in Venezuela, describing it as a brazen violation of international law and the United States Constitution.
In a strongly worded statement, Clarke said the military strikes were carried out without adequate consideration of the severe humanitarian, diplomatic, and geopolitical consequences that would inevitably follow.
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“This impulsive interventionism does not make Americans safer,” Clarke said. “It leaves our global reputation in tatters and further destabilizes an already volatile region, undermining relations with South America and the Caribbean.”
She further warned that President Donald Trump has threatened a prolonged U.S. occupation of Venezuela and has refused to rule out a sustained American troop presence on the ground.
“The Venezuelan people deserve their chance at freedom,” Clarke said. “They do not wish to substitute their dictator with America’s.”
Clarke argued that the administration’s actions set a dangerous precedent, emboldening adversaries to engage in their own military aggressions against sovereign nations and further eroding international norms and the rule of law.
She cautioned that Venezuela would not be the last target of what she described as the president’s “imperial pursuits,” warning that unchecked military escalation would come at a high cost to American lives, resources, and moral standing.
According to Clarke, public opposition to the strikes has been widespread since the Trump administration first initiated military action off Venezuela’s coast.
“President Trump lacked both the righteousness and the constitutional respect to bring his war before Congress,” she said. “Had he done so, I would have voted no.”
She accused the president of acting in defiance of constitutional war powers by launching strikes without congressional authorization.
“In a brazen affront to the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution, and without rational consideration of the grave consequences that will inevitably follow, Donald Trump has plunged the United States into yet another dangerous foreign entanglement,” Clarke said, referring to reports that U.S. forces carried out direct military strikes on Venezuela’s capital and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
While acknowledging Maduro’s authoritarian rule, Clarke stressed that military intervention was not justified.
“Maduro is a despot whose rule has oppressed the Venezuelan people,” she said. “But this is not a case of the ends justifying the means.”
The military action has also drawn condemnation from Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, who described the operation as unconstitutional.
“Another day, another unconstitutional war from Trump, who treats the Constitution like a suggestion,” Martin said. “Congress holds the power to declare war, yet Republican cowards are hiding while Trump orders an unauthorized attack against Venezuela.”
“Trump promised peace,” Martin added, “but has delivered chaos.”
