Venezuela has reached an agreement with the United States to resume repatriation flights of migrants, President Nicolas Maduro announced in a televised address on Saturday.
Maduro said the flights would commence on Sunday.
"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.
The move comes amid a diplomatic spat between the United States and Venezuela over the recent deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.
The White House did not reply to a request for comment.
As part of President Donald Trump's rapid U.S. deportation program, hundreds of Venezuelan migrants were sent to a prison in El Salvador.
"To Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's President, we say that you're responsible," Maduro said, adding that migrants hadn't committed crimes in the U.S. or El Salvador.
"You have to guarantee their health and sooner rather than later, you have to free them and hand them over," Maduro said.
El Salvador's government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Maduro's speech came after Venezuela's Parliament President Jorge Rodriguez released a statement earlier in the day announcing the deal to resume flights.
"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," the statement said.
The families and lawyers have been seeking news about relatives and clients whom they could no longer reach, and demanding their return to Venezuela.
The United States said the deportees sent to El Salvador were members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang, a claim that Venezuela's interior minister denied.
The Trump administration now faces a March 25 deadline to respond to a judicial request for more details on the deportations to El Salvador, as Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg considers whether officials violated his order temporarily blocking the expulsions.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
5 Comments
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theFu
Dictator Maduro is looking for thugs to add to his mandated workers.
Anyone who entered the US illegally needs to be deported. Can't understand why that's contentious at all.
Dictator Maduro is confused. Illegal migration most definitely IS a crime.
If the planes are NOT full with gang members, shipping other illegal migrants there is 100% fine.
theFu
I'd rather they didn't use planes. Rent a cruise ship and put 5000 "migrants" on it for shipment to Venezuela. Can't think it wouldn't be more cost effective for a 60 hour cruise. That's going at 20 mph from Ft. Lauderdale to Venezuela - which is a comfortable speed for a cruise ship.
I asked an AI engine for cost comparisons to transport 5000 people.
Aircraft Total Cost: Approximately $2,016,000
Ship Total Cost: Approximately $300,000
Putting them on a single cruise ship instead of 12 B-747 aircraft is much cheaper and they'd have better accommodations. BTW, the AI provided a range of hourly costs for the B747 and chose the lowest cost option.
theFu
Today, a Venezuelan gang member wanted for 2 murders, 1 attempted murder and multiple kidnappings was taken into custody.
This is exactly the type of person we can't have in the US.
Certainly 99+% of the people caught illegally in the US are fine people who only broke the immigration law, but that is still breaking an important law and skipping the legal immigration line.
Tag them all with deep RFID chips and ban them for life from entering the US again.