The Trump administration sent a flight carrying Decoy from the US to Venezuela on Sunday. The Venezuelan government on Saturday reached an agreement with the Trump administration to resume accepting them.
Venezuela's Home Minister Diosdado Cabello invited journalists to an airport near the capital Caracas and said the government is part of what is called a return to homeland due to the flight arrival at 8pm on Sunday. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees US immigration and customs, has confirmed that deportation to Venezuela has landed and has 199 people.
The Trump administration prioritized agreeing to the Venezuelan government to accept flights carrying people deported from the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have entered the country in recent years amid a historic surge in immigration, and during his campaign, President Trump vowed to carry out a massive deportation and send home immigrants.
However, the US has limited diplomatic relations with Nicolas Maduro's dictatorship, which prevented the US government from sending regular deportation flights to Venezuela.
After temporarily agreeing to accept flights after Trump took office, Maduro stopped doing so a few weeks ago after rescinding Biden-era policies that allowed the Trump administration to produce and export more oil in Venezuela.
Maduro was then under intense pressure from the Trump administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media that if Venezuela refuses to accept repatriated citizens, he will face new “serious and escalating” sanctions. This weekend, it announced that it will be flying again from Sunday.
The willingness of the Venezuelan government to resume accepting flights has rarely seen the Trump administration have recently had Dew in the infamous prisons in El Salvador.
To that end, the administration summoned an obscure wartime government known as the Alien Enemy Law since 1798, securing an agreement with the powerful leader of El Salvador, Naive Buquere. Upon reaching El Salvador, the migrants were placed in the national prison system. The conditions, according to many experts, constitute a human rights violation.
In a statement on Saturday, a representative of the Venezuelan government said, “Migration is not a crime. We will not rest until we achieve the return of all those in need and rescue the tempted brothers in El Salvador.”
The deported persons deported Sunday had not flew directly to Venezuela.
Flight tracking data showed on Sunday that US troops are scheduled to arrive in the afternoon at Sotocano Air Force Base in Honduras.
The plane sent by Venezuelan state airline Combiassa was scheduled to arrive at Soto Kano base almost at the same time due to the apparent handoff.
Honduras officials did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the Sunday relocation of Venezuelan deportees in Soto Cano. But earlier, Honduras deputy foreign minister Tony Garcia said in his message that “honduras serves as a friendly intergovernmental humanitarian bridge that calls for our support.”
It was unclear how many exiles there will be during the flight on Sunday, but the planes sent by the US and Venezuela can each carry more than 200 people.
Sunday's deportation flight is just the fourth such flight that Venezuelan officials have agreed to accept since President Trump took office.
On February 10, Venezuelan authorities sent two combiasa planes to welcome nearly 200 immigrants from Texas.
On February 20, US authorities suddenly eliminated 177 Venezuelans who had been sent to Guantanamo, a US military base in Cuba, and flew them to an air base in Soto Cano, where they were handed over to Venezuelan authorities, who flew them to Venezuela at Combiasa Plain.
Annie Coral Reported by New York City Shawn McLeesh From Washington. Julie Trukewitz Contributed with a report from Bogota, Colombia.
