U.S. speeds up Venezuelan deportations as thousands are sent back under Trump crackdown

Miami Herald

22-05-2025

Thousands of Venezuelans have been deported from the United States back to the South American country in just the past four months, part of the immigration crackdown led by President Donald Trump, vastly eclipsing the numbers deported in recent years.
Among those expelled are hundreds of women and children, underscoring that many are not criminals, even though the administration claims it has been prioritizing those with criminal records.
At the same time, other Venezuelans are returning home from Mexico through the Nicolas Maduro regime's controversial 'Vuelta a la Patria' — Return to the Homeland — program, a repatriation initiative launched well before Trump's second term, as rising Venezuelan migration across Latin America triggered widespread backlash in the region.
As of May 21, more than 4,600 Venezuelans have returned home in recent months. Of those, 3,078 were deported directly from the U.S., according to data obtained by the Miami Herald from Votoscopio, a Venezuelan nonprofit that tracks repatriation flights. That total includes 273 women and 29 children.
One of the children deported was Maikelys Antonella Espinoza, a two-year-old Venezuelan girl who had been held in U.S. custody since late 2024 after being separated from her parents, who were deported under controversial circumstances. She was returned to Venezuela on May 14 aboard a repatriation flight carrying 226 migrants.
Her case has become a flashpoint in the growing political standoff between the Trump administration and the Maduro regime. Maduro has accused the U.S. of 'kidnapping' the child and committing what he called an 'egregious abuse of human rights.'
Espinoza was received in Caracas and held in the arms of Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and First Lady Cilia Flores. She was later reunited with her mother, Yorelys Bernal, who had been deported days earlier. Her father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona, was deported on March 15, along with hundreds of other Venezuelans, on a flight to a mega proson in El Salvador.
The family of three had originally emigrated from Peru, where their daughter was born. They were detained in May 2024 and accused of improper entry into the United States, triggering their separation and eventual deportation.
Neither the U.S. nor the Venezuelan government has released detailed information about the identities or circumstances of those deported — except in politically significant cases, such as that of the Venezuelan toddler who remained in U.S. custody after her parents were apprehended at the border, incarcerated, and later deported.
An additional 1,500 Venezuelans returned from Mexico in the 'Vuelve a la Patria' program, 40% of them women and children. The Venezuelan government has used the program as a political marketing tool to whitewash its role in the mass exodus that has forced more than 8 million people to flee due to humanitarian and economic crises and political persecution. Venezuelan officials have claimed — without providing evidence — that more than 1 million Venezuelans returned home in 2024 alone.
Nonetheless, the scale and speed of recent deportations represent a dramatic shift. Between fiscal years 2019 and 2023, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. deported a total of 3,256 Venezuelans—averaging just 651 per year—according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 2024 annual report, which ranked Venezuela among the top 10 countries of origin for deportees.
In stark contrast, nearly the same number—3,078 Venezuelans—have been deported in just the past four months alone.
According to Votoscopio's flight tracking data, 24 repatriation flights have been conducted since the renewed crackdown began. Of those, 17 were operated by Conviasa, the Venezuelan state-run airline sanctioned by the U.S. and previously banned from American airspace. In 2023, the Biden administration partially lifted sanctions on Conviasa to allow the airline to participate in deportation efforts.
Most of the deportation flights departed from Texas, though two were sent from the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. One such flight on April 11 returned 35 Venezuelans, who had been imprisoned under accusations of being members of Tren de Aragua, the infamous Venezuelan gang.
READ MORE: 'Give us back our sons': A look at the Venezuelan migrants Trump sent to Guantanamo
The remaining seven flights were handled by Eastern Airlines and Omni Air International, an Oklahoma-based charter carrier known for conducting 'special high-risk' deportation missions.
Venezuelans have become a central focus in the Trump administration's argument for terminating Temporary Protected Status. The administration claims that criminals have exploited TPS to remain in the U.S., despite the thorough background checks required to obtain the status. More than 350,000 Venezuelans face the threat of deportation following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows the Trump administration to end their protections while a federal court trial continues to challenge the legality of the program's termination.
READ MORE: Supreme Court ruling on TPS stuns South Florida, leaves Venezuelan families in fear
As deportations accelerate, advocates warn of escalating humanitarian consequences. Since Venezuela was designated for TPS in 2021, conditions have only worsened, not improved. This includes last year's electoral fraud, in which Maduro remained in power despite overwhelming evidence from the opposition that showed their candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, was the real winner.