Deportation Flights to Venezuela Resume After Trump Admin Plays Hardball
The Trump administration has resumed deportation flights to Venezuela.
After the flights were paused for weeks amid a dispute between the United States and Venezuela, a plane landed Sunday in Venezuela with 199 illegal immigrants aboard, Fox News.
The Department of Homeland Security said members of the Tren de Aragua gang were among those deported.
Venezeualan President Nicholás Maduro stopped the flights earlier this month.
Maduro was irked by President Donald Trump’s revocation of a permit that allowed Chevron to export Venezuelan oil, depriving Venezuela of revenue.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had warned Venezuela to make a deal soon.
“Venezuela is obligated to accept its repatriated citizens from the U.S. This is not an issue for debate or negotiation,” Rubio wrote in a post on X.
Venezuela is obligated to accept its repatriated citizens from the U.S. This is not an issue for debate or negotiation. Nor does it merit any reward. Unless the Maduro regime accepts a consistent flow of deportation flights, without further excuses or delays, the U.S. will impose…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 18, 2025
“Nor does it merit any reward. Unless the Maduro regime accepts a consistent flow of deportation flights, without further excuses or delays, the U.S. will impose new, severe, and escalating sanctions,” he wrote.
The flight Sunday brings the total of individuals deported to Venezuela to about 350.
“We have agreed with the U.S. government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday,” said Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s Assembly and Maduro’s chief negotiator with the U.S., according to CBS.
Venezuela accepted the deal to guarantee “the return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their human rights,” Rodríguez said.
On Sunday, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said deportation flights will continue even as the Trump administration battles a judge to use the Alien Enemies Act as a device for the automatic deportation of Tren de Aragua gang members, according to ABC.
“Well, I don’t care what that judges think, as far as this case. We’re going to continue to arrest public safety threats and national security threats. We’re going to continue to deport them from the United States,” Homan said.
“I understand this case is in litigation through the Alien Enemies Act, and we’ll abide by the court order as litigated. But my point was, despite what he thinks, we’re going to keep targeting the worst of the worst, which we’ve been doing since day one, and deporting them from the United States through the various laws on the book,” he said.
Homan noted that once illegal immigrants are deported, border policies will keep them from returning.
“We’re going to secure the border and make sure no public safety threats or national security threats cross the border and get away,” he said.
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