A House GOP lawmaker is working to find more information after learning one of her constituents was possibly detained by Venezuela’s government.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital she was ‘advocating for the State Department to assist’ with a U.S. citizen from her district who is possibly being held by the Latin American government.
‘My biggest issue at the moment is that I have a constituent that is suspected of being unlawfully detained by the Venezuelan government,’ Malliotakis told Fox News Digital.
She said she was appealing to the State Department to use its ‘leverage’ to get the man released.
The New York City-area Republican said he had likely been detained for ‘a couple of weeks,’ before Maduro’s ouster.
Malliotakis said his family suspected him of being unlawfully detained, but it’s not clear if he’s classified as such by the U.S. government.
Her office sent Fox News Digital a longer statement, ‘While we have not been contacted by the family of James Luckey-Lange, we learned about the situation from the media on Friday and immediately contacted the U.S. Department of State.’
‘For months, the State Department has advised American citizens not to travel to Venezuela, determining a very high risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals in the country. While we have not yet been able to confirm he has been detained, we are engaged, actively monitoring the situation, and have elevated our concern directly to the White House and the Secretary of State, and the State Department has been in contact with the family,’ Malliotakis’ office said.
‘It is our hope that our constituent will soon safely return to the United States.’
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for further information. A State Department spokesperson responded to the inquiry, ‘The United States has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens. We are aware of reports of U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela. Due to privacy and safety concerns, we have nothing further at this time.’
Her comments came after a House-wide classified briefing on the government’s Venezuela operation on Wednesday, which was led by top Trump administration officials.
Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, were extracted after precision strikes in the capital city of Caracas and are currently facing trial on terrorism-related charges at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
A story published in the Staten Island Advance, a local outlet in Malliotakis’ district, cited the New York Post in naming Luckey-Lange as being potentially detained by Venezuela since arriving there in December.
The outlets reported that it’s not clear if he had a visa to enter Venezuela.
President Donald Trump said last weekend that the U.S. would ‘run’ the country until an adequate transition were to occur.
Meanwhile, Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as acting president on Tuesday.
