CARACAS, Venezuela, March 23, (AP): Venezuela will once again accept repatriation flights from the United States carrying its deported nationals after reaching an agreement with the US, a Venezuelan official said on social media Saturday. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro suspended flights on March 8, after the US Treasury Department announced the withdrawal of Chevron’s license to export Venezuelan oil.

"We have agreed with the US government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday,” said Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela's Assembly and Maduro’s chief negotiator with the US Venezuela accepted the deal to guarantee the "the return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their Human Rights,” Rodríguez said.

In his statement, Rodríguez referred to the deportation by Donald Trump’s government of some 250 Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador. "Migrating is not a crime and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those who require it and until we rescue our brothers kidnapped in El Salvador,” Rodríguez said.

Maduro ratified the measure during a public event later in the day. "We are resuming flights to rescue and release migrants from US prisons,” Maduro said. The Venezuelan leader also said that he held the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, responsible for the well-being of the Venezuelans deported to that country. "You guarantee their health and, sooner rather than later, you have to hand them over and release them, because they are kidnapped,” Maduro said.

Trump alleged the deportees were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. He labeled the Tren de Aragua an invading force on March 15 when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a little-used authority from 1798 that allows the president to deport any non-citizen during wartime. A federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations, but flights were in the air when the ruling came down.