US Deportations to Venezuela Occur Hours Before Devastating Earthquakes

The Department of Homeland Security, which supervises US immigration enforcement agencies such as ICE, issued a statement but provided no details when queried by the BBC.

“The flight arrived safely in Venezuela, and all individuals on board were repatriated,” a DHS spokesperson told the BBC on Tuesday. “Once a person is no longer in ICE custody, the agency is no longer responsible for them.”

In pursuit of stronger border security, the Trump administration has detained and deported thousands of undocumented migrants, including alleged terrorists and gang members, while millions of others have departed voluntarily, US officials report.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated in February that, over the preceding 13 months, “nearly 3 million illegal entrants left the United States … including an estimated 2.2 million self‑departures and more than 713,000 formal deportations.”

Venezuelan officials placed the recent deportation‑flight passengers — reportedly comprising 19 women and seven children — in Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira after they completed medical examinations and received documentation. The neighborhood has suffered extensive damage, with numerous collapsed structures.

The Venezuelan government has published contact numbers for the public, though information remains scarce amid the devastation.

Several passengers, such as Rincón, had informed their families that they had returned to Venezuela just before the quakes struck.

Rincón’s grandfather, José Rincón, told BBC Mundo that he examined at least 200 bodies, including those at a Caracas morgue, while searching for his 23‑year‑old grandson.

He attempted, unsuccessfully, to visit the ruins of the destroyed hotel where his grandson and the other deportees had been staying.

Venezuelan authorities barred him, stating there was “no life” at the site.

“If we could at least see what we need to see — if I could see the rubble, I would be satisfied — but days have passed and I still haven’t found him, alive or dead… What am I supposed to do?” Rincón told the BBC.

Darwin Eliecer Serrano López, 35, called a cousin at 17:32 local time to say he had returned home after four years in the United States. The first quake struck barely half an hour later.

“We drove all night,” said Paola Chacón, whose brother had first alerted the family that Serrano López had returned to Venezuela.

López had initially been detained in Chicago and later held in four detention centers before US authorities placed him on a flight out of the country, relatives reported.

Chacón came to accept that her cousin might be dead, she told BBC Mundo on Monday, noting that the family had searched for nearly a week without any sign of him.

“So many days have passed… we aren’t getting any answers,” she said. “We intend to remain here until we can bring [Darwin’s body] home,” she added.

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