President Donald Trump demanded the Venezuelan government accept the return of “all of the prisoners” he claims the country has forced into the U.S., or face an “incalculable” price.
Trump made the threat Saturday in a post on Truth Social, where he did not elaborate on which prisoners he was referring to other than some were “people from mental institutions,” — an unsubstantiated claim he has repeatedly made before.
“We want Venezuela to immediately accept all of the prisoners, and people from mental institutions, which includes the Worst in the World Insane Asylums, that Venezuelan “Leadership” has forced into the United States of America,” the president wrote.
“Thousands of people have been badly hurt, and even killed, by these “Monsters.” GET THEM THE HELL OUT OF OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT NOW, OR THE PRICE YOU PAY WILL BE INCALCULABLE!” Trump added.
For years, Trump has claimed without evidence that Venezuela and other countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have been emptying their “insane asylums” and sending them to the U.S.
Critics of the president also mocked his outburst on Truth Social and suggested Trump misunderstood the definition of “asylum.”
“He STILL thinks asylum seekers are people from insane asylums,” former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger said in a post on X, sharing a screenshot of Trump’s latest Truth Social post.
“He also conflates the primary definition of ‘asylum’ with the secondary definition,” remarked the author and journalist Michael Weiss. Referring to Trump repeatedly mixing up the countries Armenia and Albania, Weiss added: “The man who brought peace the peoples of Azerbaijan and Albania may not be the intellectual powerhouse he thinks himself to be…”
The president has claimed that countries are intentionally releasing the mentally ill into America more than 500 times over the years, according to the nonprofit fact-checking outlet The Marshall Project.
Roberto Briceño-León, founder and director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, told CNN last year that the organization had found “no evidence” that the Venezuelan government is emptying its prisons or mental health institutions to send them to the U.S. or other countries.
Tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. are high after Trump ordered three military strikes in one month on alleged Venezuelan drug vessels.
Trump announced the most recent strike via Truth Social Friday evening, writing that three men were killed and that the vessel was in international waters. No U.S. forces were harmed in the strike, he added.
It’s unclear exactly where the boat was located. The U.S. Southern Command area includes the Caribbean Sea and South America.
It followed an attack on September 2 where 11 people died after Trump ordered a strike on a “drug-carrying vessel” in the Caribbean, allegedly operated by the Tren de Aragua gang. Venezuela said the 11 killed in the attack were not connected to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Following the attack, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered to engage in direct talks with Trump officials in a letter dated September 6, according to Reuters.
“President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful,” Maduro reportedly wrote in the letter. “These and other issues will always be open for a direct and frank conversation with your special envoy (Richard Grenell) to overcome media noise and fake news.”
But despite the apparent attempt to lower the temperature, Venezuela revealed Thursday it had launched three days of large-scale military exercises in the Caribbean in response to the U.S. attacks.
