Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump celebrated the return of six Americans held captive in Venezuela, adding that the South American country has also agreed to take back its illegal immigrants from the U.S.
The president shared the news in a post to his Truth Social account following the release of six American prisoners on Friday.
“It is so good to have the Venezuela Hostages back home and, very important to note, that 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 wrote.
“Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back. 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. Furthermore, record numbers of criminals are being removed from our Country, and the Border numbers are the strongest they have been since the First Term of the Trump Administration!” he added.
Trump posted the news of the prisoners being released on Friday.
“Just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela. Thank you to Ric Grenell and my entire staff. Great job!” he wrote.
Grenell posted a picture of the six men on X along with the words, “We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens. They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump
and they couldn’t stop thanking him.”
Trump’s administration has also ended deportation relief for many Venezuelans in the U.S., according to a Sunday report by The New York Times.
“The move affects more than 300,000, or about half, of the 600,000 Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) living in the United States, and could take effect within two months, according to the Times,” Reuters reported.
“Those affected would lose their deportation relief and access to work permits 60 days after the federal government publishes the termination notice, according to the Times. It did not say when the document would be published,” it added. “The more than 300,000 Venezuelans had TPS through April, according to the notice reported by the Times. The other half, not impacted by the pending notice, have protections through September.”