The US deported them to Venezuela – hours later earthquakes struck

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees US immigration enforcement agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), shared a statement, but offered no details on the case when asked by the BBC.

“This flight safely reached Venezuela and all illegal aliens on board were returned home,” a DHS spokesperson told BBC on Tuesday. “When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them.”

As part of its campaign of mass deportations, the Trump administration has detained and deported thousands of migrants who entered the US illegally, while millions of others have left voluntarily, according to US officials.

Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in February that, over the previous 13 months, “nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the US … including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 713,000 deportations.”

Venezuelan authorities housed last week’s deportation-flight passengers – reportedly including 19 women and seven children – in Hotel Santuario La Llanada in the city of La Guaira after they underwent medical exams and received documentation. The area has been particularly hard hit with widespread damage and collapsed buildings.

The Venezuelan government has posted numbers for the general public to call, but information has been limited in the wake of such a devastating national disaster.

Many flight passengers like Rincón had contacted family to let them know they were back in Venezuela – right before the earthquakes hit.

Rincón’s grandfather, Jose Rincón, told BBC Mundo that he viewed at least 200 bodies, including at a morgue in Caracas, searching for his 23-year-old grandson.

He even tried unsuccessfully to visit the remnants of the destroyed hotel, where his grandson and the other deportees were staying.

Access was blocked by Venezuelan authorities, who told the grandfather there was “no life” at the site.

“If we could just see what we need to see – if I could see the rubble, I’d be satisfied – but days have gone by and I still haven’t found him, alive or dead… So what am I supposed to do?” Rincón told the BBC.

Darwin Eliecer Serrano Lopez, 35, called a cousin at 17:32 local time to say he’d returned home after four years of living in the US. The first quake struck barely half an hour later.

“We drove all night,” said his cousin, Paola Chacón, whose brother had received the phone call first alerting the family that Serrano Lopez had returned to Venezuela.

Lopez had been originally detained in Chicago, then held in four detention centres before US authorities put him on the flight out of the country, relatives said.

Chacón resigned herself to the belief that her cousin was dead, she told BBC Mundo on Monday – with the family searching for nearly a week without any sign of him.

“So many days have passed… we aren’t getting any answers,” she said.

But “we are going to stay here until we can take [Darwin’s body] home”, she added.