US-operated flights bring back deported migrants Venezuela will continue despite President Trump’s claim that the airspace of the South American country should be considered closed.

Government of President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro announced on Tuesday that the twice-weekly flights would resume following a request from the Trump administration. This reverses a statement from the Venezuelan government on Saturday that said US immigration authorities unilaterally suspended flights.

A flyover and landing application filed Monday by US Eastern Airlines seeks permission to arrive on Wednesday. The agreement allows Boeing 777-200 flights from Phoenix, Arizona, to land at Maiquetía International Airport, the Venezuelan government said. The application was announced on Tuesday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela.

Venezuelans have been persistently deported to their homeland this year after Maduro, under pressure from the White Houseended its long-standing policy of not accepting deportees from the US. Maduro has since described their return as a triumph, saying the Venezuelans are returning home from harsh conditions in US detention.

Immigrants regularly arrive at the airport outside the capital, Caracas, on flights operated by a US government contractor or the Venezuelan state airline. More than 13,000 immigrants have returned so far this year on chartered flights, the last of which arrived on Friday.

The U.S.-Venezuelan repatriation agreement has faced scrutiny from human rights groups, although Trump administration officials tout the diplomatic deal as an important tool to reduce the influence of transnational criminal groups. The flights continued despite US military raids on suspected drug-smuggling ships in the eastern Pacific Ocean and near Venezuela’s Caribbean coast.

Trump administration officials say the combination of targeted strikes and deportation flights reflects a multi-pronged strategy to disrupt The Aragua train gangs and other organized crime networks, which are linked to drug trafficking and violent crime across America.

The Trump administration has also claimed that some of the drug cartels are controlled by Maduro. Mr Trump said on Tuesday that the US would soon begin ground attacksalthough he did not specify where and said the attacks could take place in countries other than Venezuela, suggesting that Colombia could see military strikes.

“You know, the country is a lot easier, a lot easier. And we know the routes they take,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he met with his cabinet at the White House. “We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon.”

Later, when asked to clarify, the president said he was talking about countries that produce and sell fentanyl or cocaine. The president said he had heard that Colombia was producing cocaine and selling it to the US

Colombia is indeed the world’s largest producer of cocaine.

“Anyone who makes and sells it in our country is under attack,” Mr. Trump said. He added moments later, “Not just Venezuela.”

Tuesday’s cabinet meeting came amid calls for investigations and bipartisan concerns in Congress yes a a subsequent attack on an alleged drug ship may be a war crime.

As tensions between the two countries continue to escalate, Pope Leo XVI on Tuesday, he called on the US to continue dialogue and even economic pressure on Venezuela to achieve its goals, rather than threats of military action.

Leo, the first American pope in history, told reporters on the papal plane returning from Lebanon that the Venezuelan bishops’ conference and the Vatican embassy in Caracas were trying to calm the situation and take care of the plight of ordinary Venezuelans.

“The votes coming from the United States change, sometimes with some frequency,” he said. “On the one hand, it seems that there was a telephone conversation between the two presidents, on the other hand, there is this danger, this possibility of activities, operations including the invasion of Venezuelan territory.”

He emphasized that he had no more information. “Again, I believe it’s better to look for ways of dialogue, maybe pressure — including economic pressure — but look for other ways to change, if that’s what the United States wants to do.”