Reporter Grills Tammy Bruce Over 'Direct Exchanges' With Venezuela For Deportation Flights

2 days ago

State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about deportations of Venezuelan nationals.

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Transcript

00:00Switching to deportations, if I may, a couple questions.

00:06One, has there been any direct exchanges with Venezuela since last Saturday regarding the

00:12deportation flights that you mentioned before, the ones that are supposed to take Venezuelans

00:17directly back to Venezuela?

00:19And also, I'd like to know if there's any details that can be shared regarding an agreement

00:25with El Salvador in regards of El Salvador incarcerating members of Trinidad-Aragua organization?

00:34Thanks.

00:35Well, I think we know of one request that El Salvador had, which is they wanted two

00:41of the worst MS-13 members deported back to them.

00:46And we said, okay.

00:47So they got those two MS-13 gang members.

00:54What we also know when it comes to El Salvador is they've dedicated – they're dedicated

01:03to working with partners to end the crisis of illegal immigration, is committed to accept

01:08certain individuals removed from the United States, including the TDA members.

01:14And they also – besides the MS-13 members, they also requested 21 of its most wanted

01:23gang members who are El Salvadoran to go back as well, so we accommodated that also.

01:30And we plan to work with Congress to provide assistance to support El Salvador's correction

01:35system, which seems fair.

01:39And on – so on Venezuela, you're asking if there's been any more.

01:43Well, I think the message I mentioned at the top of this briefing was that they've got

01:51to start doing it or there's going to be serious problems, there's going to be sanctions,

01:56and we will be reacting.

01:58So they've been told they've got to.

02:01At this point, I don't believe any more certainly has moved, and certainly some of

02:08this – we're looking at the judge's order, et cetera, but what we do know is that

02:16deportation flights will continue to other countries and other regions.

02:21All right.

02:22Can I just follow up on that?

02:23Oh, yes.

02:24Yes, please.

02:25Yes, Nick.

02:26On Friday, Special Envoy Grinnell announced that Venezuela had agreed to accept the repatriation

02:30flights.

02:31Well, that's nice.

02:32It's nice to say so.

02:33And now – right.

02:34And doing it will be an important gesture.

02:38But have they signaled that they're reneging on that agreement that's been announced,

02:43or –

02:44Well, again, I'll refer you to the Secretary's tweet, which I think speaks for itself.

02:49It was very strong.

02:51President Trump said also that Maduro has not been taking Venezuelan deportees back

02:55fast enough, and this is not something that will be negotiated, also, nor does it merit

03:02any reward of any sort.

03:05And also, if he does not accept the return of the deportees, of course, we will start

03:09to employ escalating sanctions.

03:11So it is about what our requirements are for a – well, I'll just leave it at that.

03:21I was going into my talk radio mode, and that was not going to be appropriate.

03:24Yes, sir.

Reporter Grills Tammy Bruce Over 'Direct Exchanges' With Venezuela For Deportation Flights

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