U.S. and Venezuelan authorities confirmed the deportations that relied on a stopover in Honduras, where 177 Venezuelans exited a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement flight and boarded a Venezuelan plane bound for Caracas.
The government of President Nicolás Maduro said it had “requested the repatriation of a group” of Venezuelans “who were unjustly taken” to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. With the request accepted, an aircraft with the state-owned airline Conviasa picked up the migrants from Honduras. ICE confirmed the transfer of 177 “Venezuelan illegal aliens.”
The administration of President Donald Trump has placed a high priority on deporting people who have exhausted all legal appeals to stay in the U.S. Nearly 1.5 million had final removal orders as of Nov. 24, according to ICE figures, including more than 22,000 Venezuelans.
In a court filing Thursday, federal immigration and military authorities said that “Venezuela has historically resisted accepting repatriation of its citizens but has recently begun accepting removals following high-level political discussions and an investment of significant resources.”
Last week, two Venezuelan flights carried 190 immigrants directly from the U.S. to Venezuela in a rare moment of coordination between the two countries that may be giving way to regular exchanges.
Thursday’s court filing by U.S. Justice Department attorneys provides the most thorough official accounting to date about who is being held at the isolated Guantanamo Bay military complex and why — noting that detainees as of Wednesday were Venezuelans with final orders of deportation.
More immigrant transfer flights arrived at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday in planes departing from Texas and Louisiana, said Thomas Cartwright of Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks deportation flights.
Trump in January said he wanted to expand immigrant detention facilities at Guantanamo to hold as many as 30,000 people
