CARACAS, Venezuela — Nearly 200 Venezuelan nationals who migrated to the United States were sent back to their homeland after being detained at Guantanamo Bay, marking a significant shift in the process of U.S. deportations. This series of flights saw the Venezuelans returned home through an unusual stop in Honduras, where 177 individuals disembarked from a flight operated by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) and transferred to a Venezuelan aircraft headed for Caracas.
The Venezuelan government, under President Nicolás Maduro, expressed that it had “requested the repatriation of a group” of individuals “unjustly taken” to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In response, the repatriation request was granted, and a plane from the state-owned airline Conviasa subsequently transported the migrants from Honduras. ICE confirmed the transfer of 177 Venezuelans categorized as “illegal aliens.”
The administration of former President Donald Trump has prioritized the deportation of individuals who have exhausted all legal avenues for remaining in the U.S. As of November 24, statistics indicated that nearly 1.5 million individuals were facing final removal orders, including over 22,000 from Venezuela.
In a recent court document, federal immigration and military officials indicated that Venezuela, historically resistant to accepting its citizens back, has begun to facilitate such repatriations following high-level political discussions and significant resource investment. Last week, two flights directly transported 190 Venezuelans from the U.S. back to their country, signaling a rare moment of cooperation between the two nations that may lead to more systematic repatriation efforts.
A court filing from the U.S. Justice Department has shed light on the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, noting that as of Wednesday, the individuals being held were Venezuelans with final deportation orders. More flights to transfer additional immigrants were reported to have arrived at Guantanamo Bay from locations in Texas and Louisiana.
In January, Trump suggested a plan to expand the capacity of immigrant detention facilities at Guantanamo to accommodate up to 30,000 individuals, despite the current setup requiring around 2,500 for low-security operations. Historically, the base has been known for housing suspects related to the September 11 attacks, but it has also dealt with individuals attempting to illegally reach the U.S. via maritime routes and helped in the resettlement of immigrants.
Since February 4, almost daily flights have been transporting individuals from a U.S. Army base in West Texas to Guantanamo. By midweek, 51 newly arrived migrants were held in low-security tents, with an additional 127 in a more secure area, following the recent transfer flights.
Both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense are currently facing scrutiny regarding their procedures for moving immigrants in and out of Guantanamo with minimal public announcement or notification to legal representatives. In the court filing, they argued that the recent arrivals at Guantanamo do not have a right to legal representation since they are subject to final removal orders, which restricts their due process rights.
Family members of the newly detained individuals and various advocacy groups have accused the U.S. government of denying these immigrants access to legal counsel and adequate means of asserting their rights. They have raised concerns that, despite having final orders of removal, these individuals should still be able to contest their conditions of confinement and potentially seek release in the U.S. if their deportation situations extend unnecessarily.
The identities of those detainees at Guantanamo have not been made public by U.S. authorities. A legal suit on behalf of three detainees is seeking a court ruling demanding unmonitored communication with legal representatives and advance notifications before any transfers or deportations occur.
A U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., has directed authorities to facilitate phone access for legal counsel and, according to the latest filing, Guantanamo officials claim compliance, though they resist other requests for direct communication between detainees and family members.
Currently, in-person visitation for immigration detainees at Guantanamo is not available, although officials have stated they will evaluate this option in light of logistical complexities and the typically short duration of these immigrants’ stays.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney from the ACLU involved in the ongoing challenges against detention practices at Guantanamo, expressed concern over the lack of transparency surrounding the recent deportations.
Earlier in January, Trump had hinted that some migrants might face indefinite detention at Guantanamo, stating he was concerned about the risks of their return to the U.S. due to alleged criminal backgrounds. The government has accused some of these Venezuelan returnees of affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang, a group that has been tied to a wider immigration crisis affecting multiple countries.
In response to the allegations, Maduro’s government declared its commitment to combatting terrorism and criminal organizations while opposing the exploitation of such issues for political purposes and rejecting any attempts to malign the country or its populace.
Reports of arrests related to the Tren de Aragua gang have emerged from various nations, even as the Maduro administration claims to have effectively dismantled the group. Meanwhile, family members of the recently transferred immigrants express frustration at the uncertainty surrounding their loved ones’ situations, piecing together information from detained individuals about those who were taken from ICE processing centers in El Paso, Texas. They find the online detainee locator system largely unhelpful in tracking the detainees.
