PHOTO ESSAY: Photos of Venezuelan migrants who returned home following US immigration crackdown
Gabriela Villanueva, third from left, and her husband Juan Guedez, right, sit with her in-laws outside their home in Araure, Venezuela, June 11, 2025. The couple traveled by land from Chile to Mexico, crossing the Darien Gap in an attempt to reach the U.S., but returned home after the Trump administration closed the border to asylum seekers. Credit: AP/Matias Delacroix
CARACAS, Venezuela — More than a decade after Venezuela’s economic collapse sent millions to flee abroad, U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is driving many to return home, often to worse conditions than those they left.
Some have made the long, dangerous journey on their own, while others have been flown back after President Nicolás Maduro, under U.S. pressure, agreed earlier this year to accept deportees following years of refusal.
Those returning face runaway inflation, low wages and mounting uncertainty over Venezuela's political future as the U.S. intensified a military campaign in the Caribbean and offered a $50 million reward for Maduro’s arrest, accusing him of drug trafficking.
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