BORDERS AND EMPIRE

Trump’s call to annex Venezuela exposes deep contradictions in his messaging over immigration and national resources

- BY NEWSWEEK EDITORS

AT THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE in The Hague, Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, gave a clear answer to Donald Trump’s latest territorial daydream: Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country,” she said on May 11.

Earlier, Trump had said he was “seriously considering” making Venezuela the 51st U.S. state, a remark that landed right in the middle of his administration’s mass deportation campaign, in which Venezuelan “criminal aliens” are a central target.

Trump’s ironic vision of “America First” was on full display: Venezuela is a danger and a prize. Those arguments are hard to reconcile when the prize means inviting the supposed danger to join your family.

From Enemy to Asset

Trump’s administration has deported hundreds of Venezuelans it alleged were members of the Tren de Aragua—a Venezuelan drug gang—under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, characterizing their presence as an enemy invasion overseen by the Maduro regime in Caracas.

The Fifth Circuit later blocked removals under that statute after finding no “invasion or predatory incursion” in its published ruling. A declassified intelligence assessment also found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and Venezuela’s senior leadership, though it noted possible ties between some midand low-level Venezuelan officials and the gang.

But while the administration emphasized violent criminal gangs, the Trump crackdown is much broader. It has also ramped up the detention and deportation of any undocumented Venezuelan migrants with no legal right to be in the U.S.

The White House argues that every undocumented migrant is, in essence, a criminal because they either crossed the border or remained beyond their visa unlawfully. Trump’s rhetoric often collapses unlawful status, gang membership and foreign threat into one message on immigration, and it’s clear: You’re not welcome.