Venezuelans Return from the USA and Face Difficulties

• Many Venezuelans are returning home to Venezuela
• The situation in the country is worsening due to inflation
• Deportations from the USA have increased since January 2025

Maracaibo, Venezuela (AP) — Yosbelin Peres has made dozens of thousands of aluminum grills, which Venezuelan families use for preparing arepas. She writes her own work, but after returning home she has nothing, except for a loan of 5000 dollars. Peres and her family could not reach the USA, where they hoped to escape from the political, social, and economic crisis in Venezuela. They returned in January 2025 after seven months in Mexico.

Since 2013, more than 7.7 million Venezuelans have emigrated, most of whom settled in Latin America and the Caribbean. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many of them considered the USA the best option for improving their living conditions. However, since January 2025, the Trump administration has intensified deportations, limiting protections for immigrants.

The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who long resisted accepting deportees, changed his position under pressure from the USA. Now immigrants regularly arrive at the Simón Bolívar International Airport on flights operated by either US government contractors or national airlines of Venezuela.

Many returnees, like Peres, are faced with worsening living conditions. Inflation, which exceeds 100%, and low wages have led to the fact that basic products have become unavailable. The minimum wage has remained at 130 bolivars or 1.02 dollars, unchanged since 2022. People often work in multiple jobs to make ends meet.

In April 2025, Maduro announced an "extraordinarily difficult economic situation." David Rodriguez, who also returned home, said that trying to get to the USA became for him a major disappointment. After returning, he worked as a taxi driver in Mexico until he saved enough money to buy a ticket back.

Some returnees enroll in beauty courses or other training programs. Others become couriers. Those who use their own vehicles often find themselves in debt to pay off loans, which can take up 40% of their income. They also face problems that forced them to leave Venezuela — demands for money from the police.

Peres reported that during her return to Venezuela she was already approached with a demand to pay money, which she does not know how to repay.

Tags: USA/Politics/Economy