Donald Trump’s government deported his country to the 177 Venezuelans who were detained at the Guantanamo Naval Base through an operation that this Thursday had the help of the Government of Honduras.
The group was sent to Honduras, where it would be collected by the Government of Venezuela, according to the Office of Immigration and Customs Control (ICE, by the acronym in English) from its social networks.
Ice Air Operations Transported 177 Venezuelan Illegal Aliens from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras Today for Pickup by The Venezuelan Government, which returned Them to Their Home Country. pic.twitter.com/lzl0f4ieln
– Us Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@icagov) Februry 20, 2025
Enrique Reina, the chancellor of President Xiomara Castro, also reported from X that “the solidarity humanitarian operation” had been satisfactory for all and mainly so that Venezuelan migrants could “return to her homeland in an orderly and safe way.”
“Everything achieved through constructive dialogue,” he said, and said that for the government of President Xiomara Castro it was important to contribute to these efforts.
Arrival in Venezuela
Diosdado Cabello, Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela, soon confirmed the arrival of the 177 Venezuelans “repatriated by the Venezuelan authorities, within the framework of a bilateral agreement.”
Cabello, responded to the press from the airport that, “in theory” that number was the total of Venezuelans held in Guantanamo, that the ages of some were around 19 years and that, in cases already known by him, they had been more than two years and a half prisoners in the US for being illegal migrants.
The Government of Nicolás Maduro indicated that he had requested the repatriation of a group of Venezuelans who were “unfairly” to the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay.
Minister Diosdado Cabello indicated that the 177 Venezuelans who were in Guantanamo are all men. He said that “soon” women will come and that the next flights would arrive this weekend … pic.twitter.com/d9yit4ulxv
– Gabriela Gonzalez (@gabygabygg) Februry 21, 2025
The petition was accepted, and an aircraft of the state airline Conviasa picked up the migrants in Honduras, according to the agency’s report Associated Press (AP).
Trump and deportations
Donald Trump’s administration has highlighted the deportation of migrants who have exhausted legal resources to remain in the United States. Almost 1.5 million had expulsion orders until November 24. These figures include more than 22,000 Venezuelans, according to ICE figures cited by the US agency.
Trump said in January that he wanted to expand immigrant detention facilities in Guantanamo to house up to 30,000 people, while the capacity of the low security migrants operations center is approximately 2500.
The Territory occupied by the United States in Guantanamo is known for housing detainees after the attacks of September 11, 2001, but has also been used to retain captured people while trying to reach the United States illegally in boats and to coordinate the resettlement of Immigrants in American territory.
More than 100 Venezuelan migrants sent to Guantanamo while relatives demand Trump
According to the US agency, in a judicial document presented on Thursday, federal immigration and military authorities alleged that Venezuela has historically resisted accepting the repatriation of its citizens, but that recently began to “accept expulsions after high -level political conversations and an investment of significant resources ”.
Last week, two Venezuelan flights transported immigrants directly from the United States to Venezuela in “an unusual moment of coordination between the two countries, which could be giving way to regular exchanges,” he emphasizes AP.
