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In a significant move, the Trump administration has successfully transported 177 Venezuelan migrants from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Honduras. The migrants were subsequently transferred to Caracas, Venezuela, creating a substantial distance from Aurora, Colorado, a Democratic sanctuary city.

This deportation represents a small step in addressing a larger immigration challenge, as Biden administration policies had previously allowed approximately 600,000 Venezuelan migrants to enter American communities and workplaces.

Trump’s administration faces mounting pressure from business leaders and property investors advocating for the retention of Venezuelan migrants. The group deported in this operation had received prior deportation orders through immigration courts.

The Honduras operation demonstrates the administration’s strategy of utilizing cooperative nations as intermediate destinations for migrants from countries resistant to direct repatriation. Similar arrangements have been established with Panama and Guatemala.

The swift execution of these transfers disrupted plans by immigration advocates who had intended to pursue legal action to block the deportations.

The New York Times reported:
> The transfers cleared out the migrants at a time when the operation has raised numerous questions about whether the government had legitimate legal authority to take people from ICE facilities in the United States to the base in Cuba for continued detention. Immigrant rights’ lawyers have gone to court seeking access to the migrants, and rights groups have been expected to file a broader challenge to the Trump administration’s policy.

“It’s a way to avoid litigation from getting traction,” said Harold Hongju Koh, a Yale Law School professor who worked as a lawyer in the State Department during the Obama administration, has long been involved in litigation over detainees at Guantánamo. He added, “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro expressed support for returning migrants, stating, “In Venezuela, we give them a welcome as a productive force, with a loving hug.”

Political leaders in Colombia and Jamaica are similarly encouraging their citizens abroad to return to their home countries.

The deportation of illegal migrants is expected to strengthen the American economy by potentially increasing wages, reducing housing expenses, redirecting government funds to assist disadvantaged Americans, encouraging business investment in productivity-enhancing technology, and ultimately fostering improved trade relations with developing nations.