Published: 11:06, March 18, 2025 | Updated: 11:22, March 18, 2025
Venezuela slams US 'kidnappings' of migrants, demands repatriation
By Xinhua
Migrants walk along the highway through Suchiate, Chiapas state in southern Mexico, July 21, 2024, during their journey north toward the US border. (PHOTO / AP)

CARACAS/MEXICO CITY - Top Venezuelan lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez on Monday demanded the United States repatriate its undocumented migrants after hundreds were deported to El Salvador.

Rodriguez denounced the deportations as barbaric and a "crime against humanity," saying US authorities were "kidnapping" people as young as 14 years old and denying them due process.

He claimed that as part of Washington's immigration crackdown, minors are being "kidnapped, detained, isolated, segregated, and even taken to other countries."

He called on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to issue a travel advisory warning Venezuelans against traveling to the United States.

The lawmaker also announced the launch of "an intensive campaign" to raise awareness about the abuses committed against Venezuelan migrants and encouraged Venezuelan migrants to register via the Instagram account for legal assistance and representation.

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Separately, the Mexican government is mulling the possibility of reducing the number of centers it operates to cater to deported migrants as fewer migrants head north and deportations from the United States decline, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday.

"We are going to assess at the end of this month how many reception centers should remain, whether we should keep them all or make them smaller," she told a daily press conference.

The centers were designed to temporarily house migrants who "wanted to stay for a few days and then move on to their places of origin," but several centers have received no migrants at all, she said.

Official data show that since US President Donald Trump took office on Jan 20, only 24,413 deported migrants have utilized the centers, including 19,846 Mexican nationals and 4,567 foreigners.

As part of a program called Mexico Embraces You, the Mexican government in January opened 10 centers across the country, each with a capacity to serve some 2,500 people.