CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened Thursday to punish European countries that apply controversial new rules for deporting illegal immigrants by denying them oil and blocking their investments.
The EU Parliament passed guidelines Wednesday seeking to standardize the process by which member nations deport illegal immigrants. Although the rules do not lay the groundwork for workplace raids such as in the United States, they contain contentious measures such as providing for long detention periods.
Chavez said in a televised speech that the measure shows “signs of fascism” and predicted that countries would “build concentration camps” to hold millions of immigrants.
Venezuela sells most of its oil to the United States, despite political tensions between the two nations, but is only a minor supplier to Europe. Some European companies operate in Venezuela, including France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil.
“Venezuela supplies oil mostly to the U.S. . . . so it would not be that much of a deal,” Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told journalists at an EU summit.
The new guidelines allow immigrants to be held in specialized detention centers — not jails — for up to 18 months before being expelled. It also mandates that detainees are provided basic rights such as access to free legal advice and that unaccompanied children or families with children should be held only as a last resort.
