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NEW YORK — <\/span>Deposed Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> is set to make his first appearance Monday in an American courtroom on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him<\/a> to New York.<\/p>\n Maduro and his wife are expected to appear at noon before a judge for a brief, but required, legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight<\/a> over whether he can be put on trial in the U.S. <\/p>\n The couple will be brought from a Brooklyn jail to a Manhattan courthouse just around the corner from the one where President Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records.<\/p>\n As a criminal defendant in the U.S. legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime \u2014 including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers. But he’ll also be nearly \u2014 but not quite \u2014 unique.<\/p>\n Maduro\u2019s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.<\/p>\n Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega<\/a>unsuccessfully tried the same defense<\/a> after the U.S. captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the U.S. doesn\u2019t recognize Maduro as Venezuela\u2019s legitimate head of state \u2014 particularly after a much-disputed 2024 reelection<\/a>.<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s new interim president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/a>, has demanded that the U.S. return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking \u2014 although late Sunday she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with Trump and \u201crespectful relations\u201d with the U.S.<\/p>\n Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed U.S. hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela\u2019s rich oil and mineral resources.<\/p>\n The U.S. seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation Saturday, capturing them in their home on a military base. Trump said the U.S. would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that it would not govern the country day-to-day other than enforcing an existing ” oil quarantine<\/a>.” <\/p>\n Trump suggested Sunday that he wants to extend American power further<\/a> in the western hemisphere. <\/p>\n Speaking aboard Air Force One, he called Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he\u2019s not going to be doing it very long.\u201d<\/p>\n He called on Venezuela’s Rodriguez to provide \u201ctotal access\u201d to her country, or else face consequences.<\/p>\n A 25-page indictment<\/a> made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine<\/a> into the U.S. They could face life in prison if convicted. <\/p>\n It wasn’t clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had hired a U.S. lawyer yet.<\/p>\n He and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under U.S. sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.<\/p>\n