Venezuela sends planes to take its deported migrants home from US

CARACAS – Venezuela said Feb 10 it had sent two planes to bring undocumented migrants back from the US, days after it came to an agreement with the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The planes were on their way home, a Venezuelan foreign ministry statement said, after Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro – keen for an end to crippling US sanctions – agreed with a visiting Trump envoy to accept the return of deported migrants and offered to provide the transport.

The Venezuelan government had been notified by the US, the statement added, that some of the deportees were suspected of having ties to the Tren de Aragua gang or other criminal groups.

It did not specify how many Venezuelans were being taken home.

The day after

Mr Maduro met US envoy Richard Grenell

in Caracas on Jan 31, Mr Trump announced the South American country “has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the US, including gang members of Tren de Aragua”.

“Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back,” Mr Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.

Mr Grenell had travelled to Caracas despite Washington having not recognised Mr Maduro’s re-election in a vote in 2024 that he is widely accused of stealing.

The envoy returned home with six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela.

It was not clear what Caracas had gained from the talks, after which Mr Maduro called for a “new beginning” in bilateral relations.

Mr Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history, vowing to expel millions of undocumented immigrants, many from Latin American nations. AFP