With Trump now in office, Venezuela wants its migrants back, Maduro says

Venezuela is waiting for migrants to return home after appointments to enter the US were cancelled under the new Trump administration, President Nicolás Maduro said on Tuesday.

His comments come after Washington and the US Customs and Border Protection announced on Monday that the CBP One app would no longer be used to admit migrants into the country. 

Speaking in a televised address, Maduro said returning migrants would “recover many things: respect as human beings. But also their right to come and party with their families, their friends.”  

“I always say, my dear migrants brothers and sisters, Venezuela is waiting for you," Maduro said.

"Everyone will return so we can be happy in this land - working, producing and hugging each other. And you will also have back the most sacred right: the right to party.” 

The CBP One app allowed almost 1 million people to enter the US since its introduction in January 2023. However, thousands of applicants were told that their appointments in February were cancelled, right after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. 

Venezuela's government launched a plan in 2018 for migrants to return to Venezuela called the “Return to the Homeland Plan”.

Since then, Maduro's government periodically chartered migrants from other South American nations and even the US when the direct deportation flights resumed in 2023 after many years of halt. 

Maduro had been sworn in for a third term as Venezuelan president earlier this year – but the country's opposition and the European Union denounced his inauguration as illegitimate amid allegations of fraudulent vote counting. 

The US also denounced the “sham” election and imposed new sanctions against Caracas, notably increasing the reward to $25 million (€23.9m) for any information leading to bringing the Venezuelan leader to justice. 

Millions of Venezuelans have been driven from the country during Maduro's decade-long rule after facing political unrest, economic decline and acute shortages of vital resources such as food, medicine and electricity.