The Trump administration sent a plane from the United States to Venezuela on Sunday, the first flight since the Venezuelan government reached a deal with the Trump administration on Saturday to resume acceptance of them.
Venezuelan interior minister Diosdado Cabello invited reporters to an airport near the capital at 8 p.m. Sunday to serve flights, which the government said was part of the so-called return home. The Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for U.S. immigration and customs, confirmed that the deportation to Venezuela has landed and carried 199 people.
The Trump administration has made it a priority to agree to the Venezuelan government to accept flights carrying people deported from the United States. Thousands of Venezuelans have entered the country in recent years due to a historic surge in immigration, and President Trump vowed during his campaign to conduct mass deportations and send home immigrants.
However, due to limited diplomatic relations between the United States and the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. government cannot regularly expel and fly to Venezuela.
After briefly agreeing to accept flights after Trump took office, Mr. Maduro stopped doing so a few weeks ago as the Trump administration reversed a Biden-era policy that allowed more oil to be produced and exported in Venezuela.
Mr. Maduro then under tremendous pressure from the Trump administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media that Venezuela would face new “severe and escalating” sanctions if it refuses to accept its repatriation of citizens. This weekend, it announced that it will fly again starting Sunday.
The Venezuelan government’s willingness to resume flight acceptance is also linked to the plight of Venezuelan immigration, which has recently been sent to the notorious prison in El Salvador with little proper procedures.
To this end, the government invoked the obscure wartime of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and obtained the agreement by Nayib Bukele, the strongman leader of El Salvador. Once in El Salvador, immigrants are placed in the country’s prison system, and according to many experts, the conditions constitute a violation of human rights.
“Immigration is not a crime, and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those in need and save all of our brothers we kidnapped in El Salvador,” a representative of the Venezuelan government said in a statement on Saturday.
The deported deportation teams on Sunday did not fly directly to Venezuela.
Flight tracking data showed on Sunday that an aircraft operated by U.S. immigration and customs enforcement agencies is scheduled to arrive at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras in the afternoon, where the U.S. military has long been there, and the Trump administration has previously used as a transfer point for deportees.
A plane sent by Venezuelan state airline Convia is scheduled to arrive at the Soto Cano base at about the same time.
Honduran officials did not immediately respond to requests confirming Sunday’s transfer of Venezuela’s deportation. But earlier, Honduras Deputy Foreign Minister Tony García said in a message: “Honduras will help serve as a humanitarian bridge between friendly governments and demand that we support us.”
According to Thomas Cartwright, it is not clear how many deportations were in Sunday’s flight, but the United States and Venezuela each carried more than 200 people.
Sunday’s deportation was just the fourth flight that Venezuelan officials have agreed to accept since President Trump took office.
On February 10, Venezuelan authorities sent two Conviaa planes to approach nearly 200 immigrants from Texas.
On February 20, U.S. authorities suddenly evacuated 177 Venezuelans who were sent to Guantanamo, Cuba’s U.S. military base, to take them to Soto Cano Air Base, where they were handed over to Venezuelan authorities, who flew them back to Venezuela on a Colesiasa plane.
Anne Correll From New York City and Shawn McCreesh From Washington. Julie Turkeywitz Report from Bogota, Colombia.
