Trump: ‘All Countries have agreed to accept illegal aliens back’
By Solange Reyner, Newsmax – Saturday, February 1, 2025
Venezuela has agreed to accept illegal immigrants from the U.S. and pay for the return transport of their nationals, President Donald Trump said Saturday.
Trump celebrated the hostages’ return in a post to Truth Social, adding that the country had agreed to receive “all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S.” — and that Venezuela would “supply the transportation.”
“We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back. Furthermore, record numbers of criminals are being removed from our Country, and the Border numbers are the strongest they have been since the First Term of the Trump Administration!”
The back-to-back announcements came in the wake of envoy for special missions Richard Grenell’s talks with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in Caracas Friday. Maduro claimed victory in an election last year that was widely viewed as fraudulent—including by the U.S., who under the Biden administration recognized opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia as the rightful winner—and was sworn into office last month.
The report comes a day after Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions, said he was flying home from Venezuela with six American detainees after meeting with the country’s president.
“Just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela,” Trump said on social media. “Thank you to Ric Grenell and my entire staff. Great job!”
The visit by Grenell came as a shock to many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the “maximum pressure” campaign he pursued against President Nicolás Maduro during his first term.
Grenell’s hours long trip to Venezuela, according to the White House, was focused on Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelans back to their home country, which currently does not accept them, and on the release of the detained Americans.
“Just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela,” Trump said on social media. “Thank you to Ric Grenell and my entire staff. Great job!”
The visit by Grenell came as a shock to many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the “maximum pressure” campaign he pursued against President Nicolás Maduro during his first term.
Grenell’s hours long trip to Venezuela, according to the White House, was focused on Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelans back to their home country, which currently does not accept them, and on the release of the detained Americans.
Trump has made immigration policy a cornerstone of his presidency, overseeing several deportation flights of migrants back to Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador and ordering the detention of up to 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay. Flights to the notorious detention center are set to start this weekend.
The Trump administration has also revoked Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, a deportation protection granted to Venezuelan citizens during the period of political upheaval in the country.
While it confers immigrants a protected status against deportation, TPS does not offer a pathway for permanent residency. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants benefiting from TPS could face deportation once their status expires beginning in April.
Just last weekend, Trump used the threat of a sweeping 25 percent tariff on all goods imported from Colombia to pressure the country into receiving deportation flights after it initially refused U.S. military aircraft full of detained migrants.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also set to visit Latin America this weekend, part of the Trump administration’s efforts to get some of its southern neighbors to accept migrant flights from the U.S.
PHOTO: Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions Richard Grenell held talks with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in Caracas Friday. | Alex Brandon/AP
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.