Published December 25, 2025
This wasn’t the Christmas Mariela Gomez imagined a year ago.
Or so thought thousands of other Venezuelan immigrants living in the United States. But Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, quickly ending their American dream.
It was Gomez’s first vacation in northern Venezuela in eight years. She dressed up, cooked, gave her son a scooter, and smiled for her in-laws. However, no matter how hard she tried, she could not ignore the main challenges faced by returning migrants: unemployment and poverty.
“We had a simple dinner. It wasn’t as much as I expected, but at least there was food on the table,” Gomez said of the lasagna-like dishes she shared with her partner and in-laws instead of the traditional Christmas dish of corn-stuffed jaracas. “It’s a little expensive to make halakha here and we couldn’t afford to make it because we were unemployed.”
After crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas, Gomez, her two sons, and her partner returned to Maracay on Oct. 27, but were quickly apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. They were deported to Mexico, where they began the perilous journey back to Venezuela.
They crossed Central America by bus, but once they arrived in Panama, the family could not afford to continue by boat in the Caribbean to Colombia. Instead, they took a cheaper route along the choppy waters of the Pacific Ocean, sitting on the bobbing gas tanks of a cargo ship for several hours before transferring to a high-speed boat to reach the Colombian jungle. They spent about two weeks there until they received money via wire to reach the Venezuelan border.
Gomez was one of more than 7.7 million Venezuelans who left their home country over the past decade as the economy collapsed due to low oil prices, corruption and mismanagement. She lived in Colombia and Peru for years, but turned to the United States with hopes of building a new life.
steady deportation
President Trump’s second term dashed the hopes of many like Gomez.
More than 14,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have returned to South America as of September since President Trump moved to restrict immigration to the United States, according to figures from Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. Additionally, a steady stream of Venezuelans have been deported to their home country this year after President Nicolas Maduro, under pressure from the White House, reversed a long-standing policy of not accepting deportees from the United States.
The migrants regularly arrived at an airport outside the capital, Caracas, on flights operated by U.S. government contractors and Venezuela’s national airline. More than 13,000 migrants have returned home on chartered flights this year.
Returning to Venezuela also allowed Gomez to meet the now 20-year-old daughter she left behind when she fled the country’s complex crisis. Gomez’s daughter is moving to Brazil next month, and the two talked and drank beer during the holiday, knowing it might be the last time they would share a drink together for a while.
Gomez wants to make halakha on New Year’s Eve and also wants a job. But her prayers for the coming year are primarily health.
“I’m asking God for a lot. Please pray for life and health first and foremost so we can continue to enjoy our family,” she said.
