ICE Attempted but Did Not Complete Deportations of Families to Venezuela After Earthquakes

The Hill reported that Rep. Joaquin Castro accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of attempting to deport children and families to Venezuela hours after record-breaking earthquakes struck north-central Venezuela on the evening of June 24.

An estimated 2,000 people were killed in the earthquakes, a figure viewed as a severe undercount, with thousands displaced, tens of thousands missing, and an estimated 1,000 buildings including hospitals destroyed. Water and electricity services were disrupted.

Castro stated in a Facebook post that ICE woke families at the Dilley Trailer Prison in Texas in the middle of the night and sent them to Arizona for deportation to Venezuela.

The families were returned to the facility. Castro also noted that 146 people, including 120 men, 19 women and 7 children, had been deported from the United States to Venezuela shortly before the earthquakes. Those deportees were staying in a hotel that collapsed during the quakes.

The New York Times reported at least 10 survivors from the hotel, while Reuters reported survivor counts ranging from 12 to 32. “It is unthinkable to send children and families, who have committed no crimes, into a country plunged into chaos by natural disaster,” Castro wrote. He called on the Trump Administration to halt all deportations to Venezuela and to shut down the Dilley Trailer Prison.

The Hill reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. ICE referred questions to the department.