Bowing to pressure from President Trump, Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro announced he agreed to resume the flights to “rescue and release migrants from U.S. prisons.”
Maduro, who has transformed from a president to thuggish dictator, had suspended the flights earlier this month. His action was followed by action from the U.S. Treasury Department which announced Chevron would no longer export Venezuelan oil.
Trump, meanwhile, has said the now-deported illegal aliens are members of the notorious and dangerous Tren de Aragua gang. To aid his legal battle over deporting them, the president even labeled the group an “invading force” when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act that allows the president to deport any non-citizen during wartime.
Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says Venezuela will now follow every other nation that accepts the return of its own deported citizens.
“And if you don't,” he cautions, “then the United States is going to use whatever leverage we have, whether it's economic [or] whether it is denial of visas to people to come here.”
