Outgoing US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday deferring the deportations of more than 145,000 Venezuelans for 18 months. The Trump administration also announced more sanctions targeted at the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

Trump stated that there was a “catastrophic economic crisis and shortages of basic goods and medicine,” which forced five million Venezuelans to leave the country. Because of this, Trump said that it was in the foreign policy interest of the US to defer the deportation of Venezuelan nationals. The deportation of any national of Venezuela, or immigrant without nationality who habitually resided in Venezuela, who is present in the US as of January 20 will be deferred for 18 months.

However, this will not apply to immigrants who voluntarily returned to their country, who have not continuously resided in the US since January 20, or who are inadmissible or removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act. It also does not apply to immigrants who were convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors in the US; who are subject to extradition; who are a danger to public safety; or whose presence would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.

The US Department of the Treasury also announced on Tuesday that it had sanctioned three individuals, 14 entities and six vessels for their connections with a scheme to evade US sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector. The Maduro regime has used Petroleos de Venezuela, SA, as a way to exploit and profit from Venezuela’s natural resources.

These are the latest in a series of sanctions against the Maduro regime. In September, the US added four Venezuelan nationals to its list of specially designated nationals for undermining democracy in Venezuela. In the same month, the US also sanctioned five Venezuelan politicians for their alleged role in election manipulation.