Mexico and Venezuela restart repatriation flights amid pressure to curb soaring migration to US

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico and Venezuela announced Saturday that they have restarted repatriation flights of Venezuelan migrants in Mexico, the latest move by countries in the region to take on a flood of people travelling north to the United States.

The move comes as authorities say at least 10,000 migrants a day have been arriving at the US-Mexico border, many of them asylum seekers. It also comes as a migrant caravan of thousands of people from across the region — largely Venezuelans — has trekked through southern Mexico this week.

The repatriation flights are part of an agreement made between regional leaders during a summit in Mexico in October that aimed to seek solutions for migration levels that show few signs of slowing down.

Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Relations said the two countries began repatriations with a flight on Friday and a second on Saturday in an effort to “strengthen their cooperation on migration issues.”

The statement also said the two countries plan to implement social and work programmes for those repatriated to Venezuela.

“Mexico and Venezuela reiterate their commitment to address the structural causes that fuel irregular migration in the region, and to achieve a humanitarian management of such flows,” the statement read.

Mexico's government said it previously carried out a similar repatriation flight last January 20 with 110 people.

Venezuelan authorities said Saturday that 207 Venezuelans had landed in Caracas on one of the latest flights.

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