ISTANBUL

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said that Venezuela would face "severe and escalating" sanctions if it refuses to accept citizens being repatriated from the US.

“Venezuela is obligated to accept its repatriated citizens from the US. This is not an issue for debate or negotiation. Nor does it merit any reward,” Rubio said in a post on X.

He added that if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime does not accept a consistent flow of deportation flights, without any more excuses or delays, “the US will impose new, severe, and escalating sanctions.”

Rubio’s statement comes as the Donald Trump administration intensifies efforts to deport migrants without legal status in the US and ends a temporary residency program for around 350,000 Venezuelans who fled the country’s economic and political crisis under Maduro.

Venezuela condemned the transfer of more than 200 migrants from the US to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act invoked by Trump, calling it a "vulgar kidnapping" and denouncing the operation as having been carried out without guaranteeing their human rights or due process.