US resumes deportation flights, drops 199 Venezuelan migrants at Maiquetia Airport

*Venezuela receives nearly 200 citizens deported from the United States via Honduras, as US President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the American country

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As United States (US) President Donald Trump intensifies crackdown on undocumented immigrants in his country, Venezuela Monday, March 24, 2025, received nearly 200 citizens deported from the US via Honduras.

ConsumerConnect learnt a plane carrying the American deportees touched down early Monday at Maiquetia International Airport outside the capital Caracas.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, at the airport, reception said: “Today we are receiving 199 compatriots.”

Live footage showed young men in sweatsuits walking off the plane. Some of them were seen smiling and clapping as officials looked on, agency report said.

The flight came after Venezuela last Saturday had announced it had reached an agreement with Washington to resume repatriation flights from the United States.

It was the latest in a string of repatriations of Venezuelan migrants since US President Trump took office January 20 this year.

Cabello also stated: “Flights are resuming…. Trips have had little regularity, not because of Venezuela.

“We are ready to receive Venezuelans wherever they are.”

The deportation pipeline was suspended last month when Trump claimed Venezuela had not lived up to a deal to quickly receive deported migrants, and Caracas subsequently said it would no longer accept the flights.

But then Washington deported 238 Venezuelans accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang, which Trump has designated a foreign terrorist organisation, to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, a move deeply criticized by Caracas.

Venezuela Thursday flew home a planeful of its citizens from Mexico, most of them US-bound migrants whose journey came to a premature end as Washington cracks down on undocumented foreigners.

– Broken ties –

The migrants were deported via Honduras, the US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said.

“We expect to see a consistent flow of deportation flights to Venezuela going forward,” it posted on X.

Last month, Trump revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to operate in Venezuela — a blow to Caracas’s wobbly economy.

The Republican President said Maduro had failed to accept deported migrants “at the rapid pace” they agreed to.

The countries broke off diplomatic relations in 2019, during Trump’s first term, after Washington recognised then-opposition leader Juan Guaido as “interim president” following 2018 elections widely rejected as neither free nor fair.

Maduro nevertheless maintained his grip on power, and Joe Biden’s administration relaxed sanctions on Venezuelan oil as part of a deal for American prisoners and a promise to hold free elections. Those promised reforms never came.

Washington did not recognize Maduro’s reelection last year to a third six-year term in a vote he is widely accused of stealing.

There had been glimmers of hope for the relationship at the start of Trump’s new term, with US envoys in Caracas for talks.

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