Question

The FBI is now admitting that Venezuela emptied their prisons and sent violent criminals to the United States.

Answer 1

This claim is false. On March 29, an Instagram post with shirtless men in orange prison jumpsuits read, "FBI Now Admitting That Venezuela Emptied Their Prisons And sent their Inmates to U.S.." As soon as you click the link, it is flagged for false information. According to PolitiFact, a fact-checking website, "A Reuters photographer took the photograph in the post in 2011 at a Chino, California, prison. We searched Google and the Nexis news archives, but found no reports of the FBI saying Venezuela had sent its prisoners to the U.S." Additionally, the FBI's press release archives have no announcement or confirmation about such actions.

The closest situation (but does not equate to the claim) is the U.S. and Venezuela prison swap in December 2023: "Venezuela released to the U.S. 10 Americans who had been detained in Venezuela and the U.S. freed a top ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro while also requiring Maduro to free 20 Venezuelan political prisoners." 

Answer 2

No, this is a false claim via Instagram post. The post, now deleted, featured men in jumpsuits and was titled "FBI is now admitting that Venezuela emptied their prisons and sent their inmates to the US!" The men in the photo are from an Atlantic Article . There is no record of the US ever accepting Venezuelan criminals nor Venezuela even sending them. There was an exchange of fugitives between the two in 2023, but there is no record of anything else according to Politifact. Donald Trump has also made a similar claim but it was never verified or backed up in any way.