Relatives of Venezuelan migrants sent by the United States to a Salvadoran prison protested for their release, joining other families who said they were “deceived” in believing they were headed to Venezuela.
Over 200 Venezuelans were flown from the United States on March 16 to a maximum-security prison and forced labour camp in El Salvador, after President Donald Trump invoked wartime powers to expel alleged gang members.
The decision has triggered a legal standoff in Washington after a judge tried to block the deportation flights, and in Venezuela it has sparked outrage among family members. The Trump administration argues that the 238 were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang and at the very least illegal immigrants to the United States.
But Venezuelan relatives claim that many of those shipped to El Salvador without trial were not criminals and were in some cases tricked into surrendering.
“How come so many people said they were coming to Venezuela and today they are in El Salvador?” demanded Gladys Coromoto Rojas, grandmother of deportee Kenlyn Rodriguez. “They were deceived,” she told AFP, at a street protest in the city of Barquisimeto, some 365 kilometres west of Caracas.
The family of 36-year-old Maikel Rojas Olivera explained that he had been in touch to tell them he was coming home to Venezuela on Saturday, only to be shipped to El Salvador. Olivera was detained by the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in October last year. He was initially held at a detention centre in California until March 7, when he was transferred to Texas, to be flown on to El Salvador.
"We demand that they bring all those innocent boys from El Salvador to their country," his sister said. The protest was joined by about 80 people, including relatives and neighbours of the migrants. The Venezuelan government has called the detention of Venezuelan migrants in El Salvador a kidnapping and announced the hiring of a law firm to manage their return to the country.
Coming home
Venezuela will resume accepting deported nationals from the US following a renewed agreement with the Trump administration, President Nicolas Maduro announced Saturday.
“Tomorrow, thanks to the government’s perseverance, we’ll resume flights to continue rescuing and freeing migrants from prisons in the United States,” Maduro said in a televised address, BBC reported.
The agreement follows a months-long standoff after Venezuela initially halted repatriation flights in March. The suspension came after the US Treasury Department revoked Chevron’s license to export Venezuelan oil, a move that drew sharp condemnation from Caracas.
The Trump administration’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, had brokered the initial repatriation deal, which US President Donald Trump touted as a significant step in curbing illegal migration.
“Venezuela 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,” Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social at the time. “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back.”
However, after Maduro’s government halted deportation flights, the Trump administration deported 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they were subsequently detained in a high-security prison. The US has not disclosed the identities of those deported or provided evidence of their alleged criminal ties.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, confirmed that the latest deal aims to secure “the return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their Human Rights.”
“Migrating isn’t a crime, and we won’t rest until everyone who wants to return is back and we rescue our kidnapped brothers in El Salvador,” Rodriguez said in a statement on Saturday.
The deportations have sparked legal battles in Washington. A federal judge, James Boesberg, attempted to block flights to El Salvador under a verbal order, arguing that Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify the deportations raised legal concerns. However, the flights proceeded, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele responded on social media that the intervention came “too late.”
The White House has denied accusations that it defied the judge’s order. Boesberg has since demanded further clarification from US government lawyers, with a legal hearing scheduled for next week.
TRT Global - Donald Trump's administration goes against the order of a district judge, evoking a 18th century wartime declaration which has been used only three times in US history.
