Deportation flights from US to Venezuela in Limbo in Blow to Biden

When deportation flights from the United States to Venezuela resumed last fall after four years, it was a move intended to show that President Biden was aggressively addressing the record number of crossings at the U.S. southern border.

The expulsions were also intended to deter other Venezuelans who might consider the trip.

But on Wednesday, for the second week in a row, US-operated flights to Venezuela with migrants on board did not depart as planned – a move that appears to have been initiated by Venezuela.

The Venezuelan government did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether it would permanently halt the deportation flights, but a social media post from Venezuela's vice president last month threatened to halt them after the United States renewed some economic sanctions imposed.

Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed that a flight scheduled last week and another scheduled Wednesday had both been canceled.

The officials said they were not authorized to publicly discuss the flights.

They said the reason for the cancellations was not clear, but an official said the agency would continue its efforts to deport Venezuelans.

At a meeting in Colombia on Monday, Juan Gonzalez, a senior adviser at the US National Security Council, also confirmed that a recent flight had been canceled but said he was “confident” flights would resume soon.

“We look forward to effectively resuming direct repatriations from the United States to Venezuela,” he said.

According to data from The New York Times, the United States deported a total of more than 1,300 Venezuelans from October through the end of December, representing just a small portion of the more than half a million Venezuelans who have arrived in the United States in recent years. .

But the deportation flights have been an important political symbol for the Biden administration, showing that the president is actively tackling the migrant wave. Their possible end would mark another setback for Biden, experts say, just as a congressional border deal collapses in Washington.

“This comes at the worst possible time for the Biden administration,” said Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow for Venezuela at the Atlantic Council.

Halting deportation flights could be the Venezuelan government's way of weaponizing immigration to hit back against the United States for reimposing sanctions, said Christopher Sabatini, a senior research fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, a research group in international affairs in London.

Mr. Sabatini characterized it as a desperate move designed to hit Mr. Biden in a perceived weak spot.

“They don't have a lot of other things they can do,” he said.

Republican lawmakers have criticized Biden's strategy toward Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “Biden is being played again,” Senator Marco Rubio of Florida wrote last week on the social media platform X. “He lifted sanctions on Venezuela in a 'deal' for free elections and deportation flights, now the regime is pulling out.”

The uncertainty surrounding deportation flights comes as growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela threaten to derail a deal the two governments struck last fall: The United States lifted some sanctions after Maduro's government agreed to take steps to take action towards holding free and fair elections this year. year.

But late last month, after Venezuela's Supreme Court issued a ruling banning opposition leader María Corina Machado from running for president, the United States reimposed some of the sanctions.

That same day, Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez resigned a message on social media that flights could be halted in response to the renewed sanctions, which she called “rude and unjustified blackmail.”

Ms Machado overwhelmingly won last year's opposition presidential primary, which was held without official government support and is widely seen by experts as a significant threat to Mr Maduro in a presidential contest.

The Biden administration has warned it could reimpose tougher sanctions on Venezuela's crucial oil and gas industry, which it had suspended for six months, if the Maduro administration fails to allow credible national elections, including allowing of candidates representing the opposition. The six-month suspension expires in April.

Deportation flights to Venezuela were halted in 2019 under former President Donald J. Trump, citing conditions in Venezuela, including civil unrest, that endangered the safety of passengers and flight crew.

As U.S. officials try to get deportation flights back on track, Venezuelans in custody and about to be deported have received conflicting messages, said Luis Ángeles, a lawyer working in Florida whose office has more than represents twenty Venezuelan clients.

Last week, Venezuelans in deportation proceedings were told that flights had been halted indefinitely, he said, causing panic among his clients and their families.

“Over the past two weeks we have been inundated with calls from family members about detainees with final deportation orders,” Mr. Ángeles said. “There is a growing fear that their relatives will be held in detention centers for months or years.”

This week, the whiplash continued, he said, with the same customers receiving notice from U.S. immigration authorities that flights to Venezuela would actually resume, possibly by the end of the week.

Monica Vázquez, 39, is among those whose asylum applications were rejected. In recent weeks, she expected to be put on a flight, but was still held in a detention center in Louisiana, said her cousin, Maxyoris Faria.

“We are concerned here about the news that deportation flights will not go ahead — nor will they tell her that she can be released to the United States,” said Ms. Faria, noting that Ms. Vázquez had been released. four months in custody.

“The days pass without us knowing what will happen,” she added. “We pray to God that she can get out of there.”

In addition to deportation flights, Department of Homeland Security officials say the United States continues to remove Venezuelan migrants to Mexico and could deport Venezuelans on commercial flights into the country, although that is much more difficult to do.

The deportation flights between the two countries left about once a week, a Homeland Security official said, and typically carried about 130 deportees.

The Venezuelans on the flights were largely men, according to lawyers and migrant organizations in the United States.

After arriving in Venezuela, deportees report being detained by authorities and extensively interviewed, lawyers and migrant groups say, adding that some are released after a few days, while others continue to be held.

The resumption of deportations was unusual for the United States and Venezuela not maintain diplomatic relationsalthough the Biden administration has shown a willingness to cooperate more with the authoritarian government than Mr. Trump.

The flow of Venezuelans trying to reach the United States is fueled by the collapse of the Venezuelan economy and political repression by the authoritarian government.

The continued influx has led to increasing pressure on Biden from Democratic mayors in cities where migrants — many of them Venezuelan — are straining local resources.

The circumstances that prompted many Venezuelans to leave have remained largely unchanged. The economic crisis has decimated the country's health care and public school systems and food prices have soared. About a quarter of the country's population has left Venezuela, one of the largest migrations in modern history.

Living conditions became so difficult that the Biden administration offered temporary humanitarian protection to Venezuelans who were in the United States on July 31. Nearly 500,000 Venezuelans qualified for the protection, allowing them to work legally.

Isayen Herrera And Julie Turkewitz reporting contributed.