The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador restarted the repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants who are detained during the journey to the northern border, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SRE) reported this Saturday, while the United States ambassador, Ken Salazar thanked our country for its efforts to reduce pressure on the common border.
Through a statement, the agency that heads Chancellor Alicia Bárcena reported that two flights have already been made – one yesterday, Friday and another today, Saturday – towards Caracas.
He added that both countries are also working on the implementation of social programs in Venezuela that will benefit, among others, repatriated people by linking them with productive projects and paid internships in workplaces, based on Mexican models of Sowing Life and Youth Building the Future and linked to Venezuelan program Vuelta a la Patria.
The announcement is made just three days after a US delegation, led by the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkenmet with the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to address the increase in undocumented migration north.
“We recognize the work of the Mexican government to reduce pressure on the border in the face of unprecedented migratory flows through repatriation flights carried out at Venezuela“said the American ambassador this Saturday.
Through a statement released by the embassy, the diplomat announced that his country has also facilitated removal flights, including single adults and family units to Central America, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela since last December 26. “This means that, if a person arrives irregularly to the United States and remains in the country, he or she will be processed and removed immediately,” the diplomat warned.
Likewise, he reported that as part of the actions to address unprecedented migratory flows and comply with US immigration legislation, The Department of Homeland Security has deported more than 460 thousand people, of which, the vast majority crossed the southwestern border of the United States, including more than 75 thousand individual family members. In just seven months, this figure exceeds the removals and returns in the entire fiscal year 2019, as well as the figures for each fiscal year from 2015 to 2018.
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Ken Salazar added that they will continue to work with countries in the region to address the root causes of migration and manage migration in a regular, orderly and humane manner, while we enforce our immigration legislation and advance the development of a modern, safe and efficient border.