DHS rips claim agency tried to deport families to Venezuela after quakes

The Department of Homeland Security pushed back Wednesday against claims from Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) that immigration officials attempted to deport families with children to Venezuela as the country reels from last week’s devastating earthquakes.

Castro said families held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas were awakened overnight and transferred to Arizona for what they believed was a deportation flight to Venezuela before ultimately being returned to the detention facility.

Just hours after the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela that killed over 1,900 people, ICE attempted to deport children and families from the Dilley Trailer Prison to Venezuela. They were woken up in the middle of the night and sent to Arizona on their way to Venezuela. The…

“They were woken up in the middle of the night and sent to Arizona on their way to Venezuela,” Castro wrote. “The families were ultimately sent back to Dilley but worry that they could be deported at any time.”

He called it “unthinkable to send children and families, who have committed no crimes, into a country plunged into chaos by natural disaster.”

“This is FALSE,” the agency said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

DHS said a deportation flight safely arrived in Venezuela on June 24 and that everyone aboard was returned before the earthquakes struck.

“On June 24, a deportation flight safely reached Venezuela and all illegal aliens on board were returned home,” the agency said. “When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them. No additional deportation flights were scheduled for that day.”

The 7.2 magnitude and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes killed over 2,000 people and leveled buildings across the country on June 24, with thousands more still missing.

Castro also pointed to the 146 migrants deported to Venezuela shortly before the disaster, including 120 men, 19 women, and seven children, who were reportedly staying in a hotel that later collapsed during the earthquakes.

The fate of many of those deportees remains unclear. The New York Times reported that at least 10 people escaped the collapsed building, while Reuters reported survivor estimates ranging from 12 to 32.

“Last week, 146 men, women, and children were deported back home to Venezuela hours before the earthquakes — many are suspected to have been killed,” Castro wrote.

Venezuela has been a major destination for U.S. deportation flights, reflecting the large number of Venezuelan migrants who entered the United States during the country’s prolonged economic and political crisis. Countries across the region, including the U.S., have provided humanitarian assistance and search and rescue support following the disaster.