Richard Grenell visits Maduro in Caracas

Presidential Envoy Richard Grenell (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump (right) in the Oval Office on 30 January 2025.

CNN first reported that Richard Grenell was due to arrive in Caracas on Friday, to discuss a deal on deportations with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

Grenell is the Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, including Venezuela. On Thursday, he had an official face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump.

Flight trackers found that the USAF C-40 VIP transport aircraft left for Caracas from Washington DC on Friday morning.

The visit could already result in signing an agreement between the governments of the U.S. and Venezuela, focusing on re-starting direct deportation flights. Maintaining OFAC licenses for oil companies, including Chevron, could also be on the table.

Both Grenell and Trump are said to be seeking a quick victory on reducing immigration and increasing deportations, just days into the presidential term.

On the day of Trump’s second inauguration, Grenell announced that he had started speaking to Venezuelan government officials.

Grenell was also one of the top picks for Secretary of State in this administration, although the post was finally handed to Florida senator Marco Rubio.

The now Secretary of State is on a Central America tour, to push states into accepting repatriations and processing U.S. asylum claims on their own soil.

In the first Trump administration, the U.S. imposed harsh economic sanctions and tried to isolate Venezuela diplomatically, in an attempt to overthrow Maduro’s government. The U.S. embassy is closed, while there are no direct flights between the two countries.

In October 2023, as part of a rapprochement between the Biden administration and Maduro, the two countries started operating flights only for deportees. The deal fell apart soon after due to renewed political conflict.

Trump opens the door to deport of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans

On Wednesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that the Temporary Protection Status 18-month extension was being revoked.

There could be around 600,000 Venezuelans living under TPS or Humanitarian Parole protections. They are thus prevented from deportation, since their home country is deemed not safe to receive them.

The Trump campaign, and later his administration, have nonetheless focused on deporting Venezuelan and other migrant criminals, especially the Tren de Aragua gang. Expelling thousands of Venezuelans could be part of showing that the new government is “securing the borders” and fighting crime.

As Joe Biden’s term came to an end, he extended TPS for an extra 18 months, until the end of 2026. Otherwise, the status would last until April or September, depending on when migrants arrived in the U.S.

Terminating such protections for Cubans, Haitians, and Venezuelans has been one of Trump’s campaign promises; on 20 January he signed an executive order expressing his commitment to it.

Paradoxically, the Venezuelan and Cuban diasporas in Florida have been strong backers of Trump and the Republican party. Their respective lobbies, which have thus far focused on imposing harsh economic countries on their home countries, could push for a renewal of parole programmes to protect their communities.

Ultimately, the Trump administration could bring back another protection mechanism for asylum seekers from Cuba and Venezuela, under a rebranded identity.