MARACAY, Venezuela (AP) — This was not the kind of Christmas Mariela Gómez would have imagined a year ago. Nor what thousands of other Venezuelan immigrants would have thought. But Donald Trump returned to the White House in January and quickly ended his American dream.

So Gómez found himself spending the holidays in northern Venezuela for the first time in eight years. She got ready, cooked, bought her son a scooter and smiled for her in-laws. No matter how hard he tried, he could not ignore the main challenges that returning migrants face: unemployment and poverty.

“We humbly had a dinner, which we didn't have as we wanted to have it, but at least a dish on the table,” Gómez declared of the lasagna-like dish he shared with his partner and in-laws instead of the traditional Christmas dish of stuffed corn dough hallacas.

“What happens is that making hallacas here is a bit expensive and since we are out of work we couldn't make them,” he added.

Gómez, his two children and his partner returned to the city of Maracay on October 27 after crossing the border from Mexico to Texas, where they were quickly detained by the United States Border Patrol in the midst of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. They were deported to Mexico, from where they began the dangerous journey back to Venezuela.

They crossed Central America by bus, but once in Panama, the family could not afford to continue to Colombia by boat in the Caribbean. Instead, they took the most economical route along the choppy waters of the Pacific, sitting on swaying gasoline tanks on a cargo ship for several hours and then transferring to a boat until they reached a jungle area of ​​Colombia. They spent about two weeks there until they were sent money to reach the border with Venezuela.

Gómez was one of more than 7.7 million Venezuelans who left their country in the last decade, when its economy collapsed as a result of falling oil prices, corruption and mismanagement. He lived in Colombia and Peru for years before setting his sights on the United States in hopes of building a new life.

Trump's second term has dashed the hopes of many like Gómez.

As of September, more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, had returned to South America since Trump decided to limit migration, according to figures from Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. Additionally, Venezuelans were steadily deported to their home country this year after President Nicolás Maduro, under pressure from the White House, ended his long-standing policy of not accepting deportees from the United States.

Migrants regularly arrived at the airport outside the capital, Caracas, on flights operated by a U.S. government contractor or Venezuela's state airline. More than 13,000 immigrants returned this year on charter flights.

Gómez's return to Venezuela also allowed him to see the 20-year-old daughter he left behind when he fled the country's complex crisis. They talked and drank beer during the holidays knowing it might be the last time they shared a drink for a while — Gómez's daughter will immigrate to Brazil next month.

Gómez hopes to be able to make hallacas for New Year's Eve and also hopes to get a job. But his prayers for next year are mainly for good health.

“I ask many things from my God, first of all life, health, to continue enjoying our family,” he expressed.

___________________________________

García Cano reported from Caracas.

___________________________________

This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.