CROSSING THE LINE

Joe Biden to Restart Migrant Deportations Back to Venezuela

In September, 50,000 Venezuelans entered the U.S. without permission, accounting for approximately 25 percent of all Border Patrol confrontations that month.

President Joe Biden will resume deportations to Venezuela in an endeavor to limit the record-breaking number of migrants from the country crossing the U.S. southern border. In September, 50,000 Venezuelans entered the U.S. without permission, accounting for approximately 25 percent of all Border Patrol confrontations that month. The restart of deportations may raise concerns from human rights advocates who point to the country’s damaged economy and political system. Before the Thursday confirmation by anonymous senior administration officials obtained by CNN, the U.S. did not conduct deportations due to its tense relations with Venezuela’s authoritarian socialist government, which is the subject of sanctions over its human rights abuses. But now, Venezuela’s situation has pushed 7.7 million people to flee the country–the largest exodus in the Western Hemisphere.