More than 800,000 Venezuelan migrants have flocked to the United States in the past four years, including hundreds of members of the brutal Tren de Aragua prison gang.
But the Biden administration abandoned trying to deport criminals and gang members in January after the Venezuelan government stopped accepting deportation flights from the United States.
It's a problem that President-elect Donald Trump will have to solve in order to fulfill his promise of mass deportation.
Tom Homan, the man Trump appointed as border czar to lead deportation and border security efforts, said the incoming administration has too much leverage to force Venezuela to start accepting deportations — including threatening more sanctions and withholding aid, which totaled $209 million last year. .
“He got El Salvador to take back MS-13, and he convinced Mexico to agree to the Remain in Mexico program. So, I have confidence that President Trump will work with the president of Venezuela,” Homan said.
Venezuelans have been one of the largest sources of immigrants traveling to the United States. Millions of Venezuelans have left their homeland in recent years, fleeing corruption and economic collapse caused by the communist regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
The Biden administration has put in place policies to grant Venezuelans temporary protected status, which protects them from deportation and fast-track work permits — making the trip more attractive.
Trinh de Aragua saw opportunity in the influx of Venezuelans into the United States and began posing as asylum seekers as they sneaked into the country. Many members avoided getting the gang's distinctive tattoos so as not to be detected when crossing the border.
Ron Vitiello, the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who served during Trump's first term, said the gang only began to appear on the radar of border authorities and local cops during the Biden administration.
“There has never been an arrest of a Tren de Aragua member in CBP data reported before 2021. Think about it, that's unbelievable. I've been in government for 34 years. I've never heard of Tren de Aragua until after I left in 2021 when it became popular in New York.”
The Venezuelan prison gang has now set up shop in at least 16 states and its members have committed heinous crimes, including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
A moratorium on deporting Venezuelan migrants means that members of the Tren de Aragua band cannot be deported either — even when police consider them a threat.
Some gang members were released from custody after being arrested for minor crimes, and continued to commit acts of violence.
One alleged example is Nefred Serpa Acosta, 20, who was arrested by ICE officers earlier this year on multiple theft charges, but released on July 17. A month later, he made headlines when he was allegedly part of an armed crew that stormed an apartment complex. In the suburb of Aurora, Colorado.
Serpa Acosta had already admitted to being a TdA member and had a tattoo to prove it before ICE released him, DHS sources previously told The Post.
Venezuela was accepting U.S. deportation flights almost weekly until January, according to the Wall Street Journal. It all came to a screeching halt when the Biden-Harris administration imposed new sanctions on the authoritarian regime.
It's now up to Trump to figure out how to start deporting Venezuelan criminals again. Here's how he can do it.
Sanctions and withdrawal of national aid
Wes Tabor, who was in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's office in Caracas in 2012, said resuming deportations could be done through a “business-like” approach to “crushing” the oil-rich country “economically.”
“They won't have a choice with Trump because if he reaches out and tries to do something sensible with them…and if he does… [Maduro] And he puts his little finger on Trump. “Trump will do everything he can to crush them economically,” Tabor said.
Trump's spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
“Forcibly” TdA relay
Venezuelan dissident Daniel Di Martino said that although the mission is “complex,” Trump may make attempts to “forcibly” return Venezuelan gang members to the country without government permission.
“On at least one occasion when this happened in Haiti, the U.S. Coast Guard forcibly returned people to the coast of Haiti without the consent of the Haitian government,” said DiMartino, who is also a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Such an operation could involve shipping deported migrants to the Caribbean or Colombia and then putting them on boats that land on the shores of Venezuela.
Deportations to a third country
Another option is to pay another country to house deported migrants.
John Fabricatore, who previously headed ICE's office in Denver, said Trump could certainly “reach out” to a country like Colombia in exchange for aid and economic trade.
However, Colombia – which is struggling with an influx of some 3 million Venezuelan refugees – will likely be reluctant to accept convicted criminals from the United States.
