The restart of Venezuelan-specific deportation flights represents an important and troubling new chapter in US immigration policy towards Venezuela. The US Department of State recently declared the end of a moratorium on deportations via Honduras. This comes after a month-long halt in US-led repatriation flights from Venezuela. In fact, the first special flight carrying Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States is already on its way back to Venezuela. Negotiations between Venezuela and the US have finally produced results on many counts. Indeed, Honduras was key to making this transfer happen.
The people on board had no legal authority to remain in the United States. The move went unannounced — the US Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs could only confirm the inaugural flight’s departure, and that it stopped in Honduras. It was on this stopover that the deportees were moved from a Texas charter flight to a plane heading to Caracas.
"Today, deportation flights of Venezuelan illegal aliens to their homeland resumed via Honduras," stated the US Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro and her administration have worked closely with the US to address illegal immigration at its root. Their protest is in response to claims that one possible group of migrants is the Venezuelan criminal collective Tren de Aragua. Through interviews, family members of deportees have vociferously challenged the veracity of these assertions. They explained to CNN that their loved ones were not criminals or breaking any laws.
In sum, 199 Venezuelan-born nationals were aboard the flight, according to Honduras’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs. As soon as they touched down in Honduras, they were put on an airliner headed to Caracas. Business aviation’s flight tracking data corroborates this transfer. It is a testament to the logistical coordination required, including the absence of any diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States.
These flights are returning at a moment when unrest is surging in Venezuela. This uprising has emerged right on the heels of the deportation of 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador. Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez Gómez isn’t wasting any time. He emphasizes the importance of making sure all Venezuelans are able to return home safely.
"Migration is not a crime, and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those who need it and until we rescue our brothers and sisters kidnapped in El Salvador," remarked Jorge Rodríguez Gómez.
