Venezuela Says Deal Reached to Resume US Deportation Flights of Illegal Immigrants

Maduro said he holds El Salvador responsible for imprisoning his nationals, who he said hadn’t committed crimes in the United States or El Salvador.

Venezuelan migrants walk down a plane upon arrival at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on March 20, 2025. Pedro Mattey/AFP via Getty Images

Venezuela has said it will once again accept U.S. repatriation flights carrying its nationals deported for illegally entering the United States.

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro announced that a deal had been reached in a televised address on March 22.

“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.

Venezuela’s Parliament president and chief negotiator with the United States, Jorge Rodriguez, said in a statement on social media, “We have agreed with the U.S. government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday.”

“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 added, referring to Venezuelan gang members currently detained in El Salvador.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened further harsh sanctions on March 18 after Maduro on March 8 suspended taking in repatriation flights in response to the U.S. Treasury Department’s withdrawal of Chevron’s license to participate in Venezuela’s oil sector.

A diplomatic spat erupted, with the United States threatening to send criminal illegal immigrants from Venezuela to El Salvador for detention if Caracas would not accept them.

Some 350 Venezuelan nationals had already been deported back home as part of Trump’s rapid deportation program that prioritizes removing illegal immigrants who are violent criminals or terrorists. Among them were some 180 alleged to be Tren de Aragua members who spent up to 16 days at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Tren de Aragua originated in a Venezuelan prison. Members have accompanied an exodus of millions of economic immigrants and political refugees from Venezuela seeking better living conditions after their nation’s democracy and economy came undone.

In February, President Donald Trump had already designated Tren de Aragua, alongside the transnational organization Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and several drug cartels, as terrorist organizations that “threaten the security of United States nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.”

As Maduro’s freeze continued, the Trump administration on March 15 invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which allows a president to detain and deport noncitizens of hostile nations without the necessity of a judicial hearing. The act is applicable in wartime or when there is a “predatory incursion” that is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against U.S. territory. The White House said that Tren de Aragua was an invading force and that it would act to deport gang members.

About 250 Venezuelan illegal immigrants said to be linked with Tren de Aragua were then deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador.

Venezuela’s interior minister has denied that the deportees were members of Tren de Aragua.

Their families and lawyers say they have not been able to reach them and have demanded that Maduro secure their return to Venezuela. They argue that the Trump administration has not provided evidence that the deportees committed any crime in the United States. The Trump administration said it has the right to deport illegal immigrants and has been prioritizing criminals and others found in their vicinity.

Maduro, in his televised address, said he held Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele responsible for imprisoning his nationals, repeating that they hadn’t committed crimes in the United States or El Salvador.

“You have to guarantee their health and sooner rather than later, you have to free them and hand them over,” he told Bukele.

Court Challenge

A federal judge in the District of Columbia had issued an order temporarily barring the deportation of five Venezuelans, but the administration said flights were already in the air by the time of the ruling.

The planes landed in El Salvador, and Bukele posted on social media that the intervention came “too late.”

The White House has faced allegations of defying the judge’s order, which it refutes.

Judge James Boesberg has ordered the Trump administration to submit more information on its officials’ claims that they did not violate his order temporarily blocking the expulsions in a March 25 hearing.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.