Posada then fled to Panama and to the United States. In April 2005, a new warrant for his arrest in connection with the bombing was issued in Venezuela by the government of Hugo Chávez. However, a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Posada should not be deported to Cuba or Venezuela because he could be subject to torture in those countries. In 2007, Congressman Bill Delahunt and Jose Pertierra, an immigration lawyer representing the government of Venezuela, argued that Posada could be deported on the grounds that the U.S. was making an exception for Posada. Because, they argued, the U.S. practices extraordinary rendition involving the seizure and transportation of suspected terrorists to Syria and Egypt, both of which practice torture, the U.S. could also deport Posada, a terrorist, to Cuba or Venezuela.