By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Venezuela has agreed to receive all Venezuelan illegal migrants captured in the United States and provide for their transportation back.
“Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He said Venezuela agreed to supply transportation for them.
The Venezuelan government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Republican president’s announcement came the day after U.S. envoy Richard Grenell met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the South American country on Friday and brought six U.S. citizens back with him.
The Trump administration said the top goals for Grenell’s trip were to secure the release of detained Americans and deporting Venezuelans back to their home country.
The White House said the high-level visit does not mean the United States recognizes Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. The two countries have a fraught recent history marked by broken relations, sanctions and accusations of coup-plotting.
Grenell said there were no financial or other concessions promised to Maduro.
“The only award for Maduro was my physical presence, the first senior U.S. official to visit the country in years,” he was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal. “It was a big gift to him to have a visit by an envoy of President Trump.”
Maduro struck a conciliatory note after the meeting, saying he and Trump “have made a first step. Hopefully it can continue.”
Trump praised the agreement as the latest victory in his drive to get Latin and Central American countries to take in illegal migrants.
“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,” said Trump.
Last Sunday, the United States and Colombia pulled back from the brink of a trade war after the White House said the South American nation had agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported migrants.
Mexico refused to accept a U.S. military deportation flight days after Trump took office, but said it has received non-Mexican migrants from the United States in the past week. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Central American nations could also reach similar agreements with the U.S. to accept deportees from other countries.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump issued an array of executive orders to crack down on illegal immigration, including actions aimed at deporting record numbers of migrants in the U.S. without legal status.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Diane Craft and Nick Zieminski)
