Venezuela Halts Deportation Flights From US
Jazz Shaw
Of the nearly nine million illegal migrants that Joe Biden has allowed into the United States since taking office, a significant percentage of them came here from Venezuela. There were 50.000 of them just in the month of September, setting a record that still stands today. The vast majority of them were simply allowed to stay, receiving court dates to make their asylum claims as much as a decade in the future. But to his credit, Biden managed to have a small number of the worst of the worst rounded up from time to time and put on planes to fly back to their native country. That process began last October after an informal agreement was reached between the White House and Nicolas Maduro. But now the flights have ended after Biden reimposed some sanctions on Venezuela over its failure to proceed with fair and open elections. Maduro ordered a ban on deportation flights and there are few signs that this will change in the near future. So what do we do with the migrants now? (Wall Street Journal, subscription required.)
Venezuela has followed through on a threat to stop accepting flights of migrants deported from the U.S. and Mexico, people familiar with the measures say, adding pressure on President Biden as a surge in illegal migration becomes a key issue in this year’s presidential election.
President Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian regime introduced the measure after Washington reimposed some of the economic sanctions it had previously lifted on Venezuela. The U.S. said that Caracas has failed to live up to the loose pledges it made to restore the democratic order and move toward holding fair presidential elections. Venezuela has also asserted a claim to a resource-rich region of neighboring Guyana, drawing further warnings from the U.S.
The almost weekly flights from the U.S. to Venezuela came to a stop in late January, U.S. officials said, after an initial deal was struck in October. The chances of restarting them now appear bleak as relations between the two sides deteriorate, according to people involved in the discussions.more
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2024/02/24/venezuela-halts-deportation-flights-n3783512
