The US confirms that it deported two Venezuelan migrants to Colombia and hopes there will be more

U.S deported to Colombia two Venezuelan migrants who were in its custody and who had formerly resided in the Latin American country, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported Tuesday in a statement sent to Efe.

The US government hopes that this type of flight will be carried out “on a regular basis”, operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE, in English).

US media, such as the CNN network, had previously pointed out that the country had deported undocumented Venezuelans after entering the border with Mexico, given the impossibility of returning them to Venezuela

The DHS specified that the deportation of the two Venezuelans took place on January 27 based on Title 42, a policy established by the Administration of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) and maintained by that of Joe Biden that allows migrants to be quickly expelled due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The note reminds that the DHS it has expelled other migrants to third countries in the region where they previously resided, such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador or Brazil.

The DHS explained that the decision to deport Venezuelans to Colombian territory was made after “holding conversations with Colombia.”

However, the vice president and chancellor of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, denied this Tuesday that her government had reached an agreement with U.S to deport Venezuelans to Colombian territory.

“The United States has raised the possibility that some Venezuelans who have arrived with Colombians irregularly in the country will be deported”, he indicated, to insist, however, that there is no firm agreement.

From Bogotá they have expressed to Washington that “if they are Colombians”, they can be deported, but that the cases of Venezuelan citizens who have the Temporary Protection Statute will be analyzed “case by case”.

“If they are under the protection statute, but they don’t want to live in Colombia anymore, it doesn’t make sense for them to be deported because we can’t force them to live in our country,” the vice president stated.

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