VENEZUELAN activist Yesenia Gonzalez is calling for clarity from the Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander on the status of Venezuelan migrants currently facing deportation, detention and criminal sentences for minor offences amid an expanded migrant registration programme and fear of instability within Venezuela.

A letter written by Gonzalez and addressed to Alexander and the ministry, which was shared with the Express yesterday, requested clarity over migrants who were currently under deportation orders, detained or serving sentences for immigration or minor offences, noting that the public had not been informed whether such persons would be taken before the country’s courts, be allowed to register through the expanded programme, or be provided any temporary relief. “Detention without transparency, timelines, or communication is not governance, it is neglect,” she stated.

Months ago—before the Trump-approved US military operation which kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and transported him to the US for prosecution (without any approval from the US Congress)—Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar had referred to “tens of thousands of illegal Venezuelan immigrants” whom she said were straining the country’s services. She then claimed that there were about 200 Venezuelan “criminals” in the country’s jails, whom she alleged the Maduro government had refused to take back.