U.S. planned to remove deportation protections for 348,000 Venezuelans

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is taking measures to cancel protection from deportation for 348 thousand Venezuelans. This was reported by Reuters on February 3.

It is specified that U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Monday decided to remove protection from deportation from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans. This means that about 348,000 Venezuelans with temporary protected status, which is more than half of all Venezuelans covered by the program, could be deported and lose their work permits in April.

The notice says the protections are contrary to U.S. interests and are no longer justified by conditions in Venezuela.

Former President Joe Biden greatly expanded the temporary protection program during his term, which now covers more than 1 million people from 17 countries. Some have been in the U.S. for decades and could now face immediate deportation if they lose their status.

The agency said the Venezuelan opposition, which has faced arrests and other repressive measures since July's elections, has asked the U.S. to maintain the temporary protection program.

Its leader, Edmundo Gonzalez, recently told X on air that the opposition is still discussing with the U.S. how to protect Venezuelans.

Migration exodus: U.S. policy threatens relations with Latin America

Mass deportations of illegal aliens and threats of sanctions could disrupt the sustainability of economic ties in the region

Earlier, on January 23, it was reported that the U.S. detained more than 460 undocumented migrants in the first days of Trump's presidency. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested citizens from a number of countries including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela. The arrests took place across the United States.

The day before, Trump restricted the eligibility of undocumented migrants who entered the U.S. through the southern border. The US President authorized and instructed the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the State Department to take all necessary measures to immediately repel the invasion, repatriation and removal of illegal immigrants through the southern border of the country.

On the same day, the media learned of U.S. plans to send thousands of military personnel to protect the border with Mexico. To date, about 2.2 thousand military personnel are already in El Paso, Texas, as part of Task Force North.

Before that, on January 21, the curator of border security in the Trump administration Thomas Homan said that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to detain illegal migrants for their further deportation. At the same time, he noted that ICE's actions cannot be called raids, as they are part of targeted law enforcement operations.

Back on January 17, Politico reported that the U.S. presidential team intends to declare a state of emergency to combat illegal migration. It was noted that officials were also working on a decree to abolish the right to U.S. citizenship by birth.