The United States government deported 238 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, where they were put in the Terrorism Confinement Centre, an extremely harsh prison. The US will pay El Salvador $20,000 per person per year to keep them in prison.
In detaining and deporting the migrants, the US government invoked the Alien Enemies Act. Adopted in 1798, this law was last invoked during World War II, when people of Japanese descent were put in internment camps.
Those deported to El Salvador were accused of belonging to a criminal gang called Tren de Aragua (TdA). This was a gang that originated in Venezuela more than a decade ago, which the Venezuelan government claims to have dismantled.
US President Donald Trump, however, claims that TdA is “undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States”.
Anti-immigrant rhetoric, particularly against Venezuelan migrants, played a major role in Trump’s election campaign last year. Trump designated TdA as a “foreign terrorist organisation”. However, no evidence has been presented that TdA has carried out any serious criminal activity in the US. Authorities have also not provided any proof that those arrested and deported belong to the group.
The Venezuelan government has condemned the deportations. A foreign ministry communique, cited by Venezuela Analysis, said: “The vast majority of Venezuelan migrants are hard-working, dignified and honest men and women. They are not alien enemies. They are victims.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro addressed a large demonstration held on March 18 in Caracas to demand freedom for the deportees. “This is an aggression against the whole people of Venezuela, because our migrants are not terrorists,” he said. “Venezuela is ready to denounce these massive human rights violations against the noble working migrants in the United States.”
In the first few weeks of the Trump administration, it had seemed that Trump wanted a deal whereby Venezuela would facilitate the return of its citizens from the US while Chevron would be allowed to continue operating in Venezuela. Trump’s representative Richard Grenell met with Maduro, and several hundred Venezuelans returned home from the US.
However, this seeming agreement with Maduro was opposed by some of Trump's leading supporters. They wanted to intensify sanctions against Venezuela in the hope that the resulting economic crisis would lead to the downfall of the Maduro government. Other Trump supporters, while still hostile to Maduro, believe it is necessary to talk to him to facilitate the departure of Venezuelan migrants from the US. This may help explain the mixed messages.
There are about 600,000 Venezuelans currently living in the US. Previously, they were given Temporary Protective Status, enabling them to stay in the US, but this has now been cancelled.
Millions of Venezuelans have left their homeland in recent years, as a result of an economic crisis, to which US sanctions are a major contributor, according to the Centre for Economic Policy and Research. The sanctions severely limit Venezuela’s exports (mainly oil) and imports (including spare parts for machines, as well as medicines and vaccines). Some exemptions are granted, but the impact on the Venezuelan economy and people’s wellbeing is severe.
The US government has attempted to force non-US companies not to trade with Venezuelan government bodies such as PDVSA. Hence, the sanctions are widely considered to amount to a blockade.
The blockade causes poverty, and poverty causes emigration. Trump’s policy of detaining and deporting Venezuelan migrants further victimises those who have been adversely affected by US policy.
[This article was updated on March 23.]