Planes operated by Venezuela’s national airline Conviasa have landed in Caracas carrying migrants deported from the U.S., Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said on Monday.

“The first flight carrying Venezuelans returning to their homeland has landed, thanks to the ‘Return to the Homeland’ programme, which is now being reinstated after having been suspended in the U.S.

“This is for some time due to the policies of the former administration. At present, there is an open and direct dialogue between our government and the US government,” Mr Cabello said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that two planes with approximately 190 migrants on board landed in the country.

The president added that Caracas and Washington agreed to resume the programme on the return of migrants after his recent meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell.

On January 29, U.S. media reported that U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had terminated the extension of temporary stay permits for over 600,000 Venezuelans.

This is ending deportation protections granted by the previous administration.

At the same time, Mr Trump’s director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan, said U.S. immigration authorities had deported more than 4,000 undocumented immigrants in the first week alone since the raids began.

After his inauguration, which took place on January 20, Mr Trump said he would put efforts into immediately stopping irregular migrants from crossing the U.S. border and begin the process of extraditing millions.

Mr Trump also declared a nationwide state of emergency at the southern U.S. border. 

(RIA/NAN)