Dictator Maduro receives a deportation flight with 199 Venezuelan illegal immigrants and alleged members of Tren de Aragua

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that a flight carrying 199 illegal Venezuelan immigrants, among whom were also alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, landed Sunday night in Venezuela. The reception of the plane by the regime of the socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro confirms the resumption of deportation flights from the United States to Venezuela after the leftist leader announced this week that he had agreed with the U.S. government to resume receiving deportees.

Shortly before the DHS announcement, the president of the pro-Chavez National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, reported in a statement that the Maduro regime would resume the "repatriation" of deported illegal immigrants and that the first flight would arrive this Sunday. "Venezuela reports that, within the framework of the Return to the Homeland Plan and with the goal of returning our compatriots to their nation with the safeguarding of their human rights, we have agreed with the U.S. government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday, March 23," Rodriguez stressed.

From Honduras to Venezuela

The plane in which the illegal immigrants and alleged members of Tren de Aragua were being transported was a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aircraft, which departed from El Paso, Texas, and landed a few minutes later at the airbase in Soto Cano, Honduras. A few minutes later, a plane from the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa picked up the 199 deportees.

The resumption of flights of deportees to Venezuela comes just days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned the Venezuelan regime that it would suffer "severe and escalating sanctions" should it not accept the arrival of the illegal immigrants as soon as possible. "Venezuela is obligated to accept its repatriated citizens from the U.S. This is not an issue for debate or negotiation. Nor does it merit any reward. Unless the Maduro regime accepts a consistent flow of deportation flights, without further excuses or delays, the U.S. will impose new, severe, and escalating sanctions,"  Rubio wrote on his X account.