The ongoing political crisis in Venezuela threatens to spill over to the U.S. as millions of Venezuelans may be looking to escape here.
The country has been engulfed in chaos over the past month after communist President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in an election that most international observers and U.S. officials say he lost decisively. The ensuing protests and political unrest threaten to shatter an already fragile situation in the struggling country, which could result in millions more migrants to the U.S. border. A poll published earlier this month found that more than 10 million Venezuelans are considering fleeing the country, and it’s not too hard to guess where many of them would be headed.
Even before this latest political crisis, Venezuela has been one of the biggest sources of illegal immigration to the U.S., and they are not always sending their best and brightest. A Homeland Security intelligence report published in 2022 found that Maduro was deliberately emptying his country’s jails, and facilitating the migration of violent Venezuelan criminals into the U.S.
There is plenty of data to back this report up as violent deaths in Venezuela fell to a 22-year low last year. The most likely explanation for the drop in violent crime in Venezuela is that many of their most violent criminals are now residing in the U.S. Indeed, the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has terrorized American communities in recent years. The illegal alien charged with the brutal murder of Laken Riley is suspected of being part of the criminal organization and the gang has given its members the green light to shoot police officers, according to a Department of Homeland Security memo. All of these problems will no doubt be exacerbated by Venezuela’s growing instability, and a federal government in the U.S. that has flung our borders wide open.
This is not to say that the U.S. should close its doors completely to all Venezuelan migrants, some of whom are likely to come as a result of the real persecution they face under Maduro’s totalitarian regime. However, it’s impossible to trust that this administration will properly vet these foreign nationals and be able to separate the good from the bad.
As the situation in Venezuela continues to devolve, it’s not hard to see another migrant crisis on the horizon, similar to the one that occurred throughout Europe and the Middle East in 2015. This time, however, the crisis would occur in the American hemisphere, and there is no doubt the U.S. would end up bearing the brunt of it. The amount of economic and cultural upheaval, as well as the national security implications of such a crisis, are impossible to overstate. This is especially concerning given the current administration’s lackadaisical attitude towards protecting the American public from threats emanating from the southern border.
While the Biden Administration has taken action against Tren de Aragua in the form of economic sanctions, this matters little if violent, transnational gangs still have free reign at the southern border. While most national security discussions in the U.S. tend to be centered around the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the greatest imminent threat to American public safety is undoubtedly the violent organized crime gangs operating right at our doorstep. America’s hostile relationship with the Venezuelan government makes countering these threats exceptionally difficult. In fact, the official position of Venezuela’s government is that Tren de Aragua doesn’t even exist. Given the anti-border policies adopted by the Biden Administration, one could be forgiven for thinking our own government believes those lies as well.
Since this administration took office, they have opened up the floodgates at our southern border, allowing more than 10 million illegal aliens to enter the country. The administration’s catch-and-release policies have facilitated the arrival of dangerous criminals into American communities, including violent gang members. These backwards policies have already cost American lives and endangered U.S. national security, and the calamity currently unfolding in Venezuela could exacerbate these problems significantly. As bad as the situation at the southern border has become in recent years, it can always get worse, and it certainly will if the dual political and economic crises in Venezuela cause millions more people to flood our border and overwhelm our system.
The unrest in Venezuela has received little attention, but it is not hard to see it transforming into a significant threat to U.S. sovereignty and security. The Biden Administration must prepare for this possibility and develop a plan accordingly.
William J. Davis is a communications associate for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.