La Guaira, Venezuela —
Relatives are desperately searching for their loved ones after a hotel housing more than 100 Venezuelans forcibly repatriated by the United States on Wednesday was destroyed by a massive earthquake that night.
A deportation flight from Miami to Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar International Airport landed at 10:22 a.m. local time on Wednesday, carrying 146 people, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, which tracks deportation flights with Venezuelan authorities and Human Rights First.
The deportees were taken to the Hotel Santuario in La Guaira, a coastal city north of the capital Caracas. Hours later, two once-in-a-century earthquakes struck Venezuela within seconds, causing widespread damage across La Guaira, killing at least 1,700 people and leaving many more missing.
Some deportees survived the hotel collapse, but many remain trapped in the rubble.
Luis Armando DaSilva said he and his family had been anxiously awaiting news for five days about his sister Amanda Donizete, who was deported on Wednesday and hasn’t heard from her since.
“They haven’t answered where she is. Is she in the hospital? Is she in the morgue? We’ve already checked everything and we haven’t found her,” he told CNN, citing local officials.
DaSilva said Donizete had been working in the US state of Georgia after fleeing the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. But when she learned she would be sent to her home country, “she was very happy and wanted to see her family.”
Rescue teams are desperately digging through the rubble of the hotel to try to save survivors. But days after the initial disaster, hope is fading.
Some relatives of the missing told CNN they just want to give their loved ones a proper burial.
“Everyone here, please help us, please help us,” begged José Gregorio Rincon Avila, the deportee’s grandfather.
“We’ve been waiting for days. We already know the bodies have been there for several days since Wednesday, but at least let’s bring our loved ones home,” he told CNN.
“We want our families. No matter what condition they are in, we just want to be able to bury them,” DaSilva said.
CNN has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department for comment on the fate of the deportees Wednesday.
The United States has sent search and rescue teams to Venezuela and has so far committed more than $300 million to relief efforts.
In October, the Supreme Court authorized the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 300,000 Venezuelan immigrants who had been admitted under the Humanitarian Relief Program.
Since then, the United States has been deporting hundreds of people to Venezuela every week. In May, the United States deported 1,746 Venezuelans, according to ICE Flight Monitor.
A video posted by Venezuelan government officials showed deportees arriving at Simón Bolívar Airport on Wednesday.
The wife of one of the deportees told CNN that her husband had been in the United States for three years and had built a better life for his family.
Her husband was detained by ICE for 15 days before being extradited to Venezuela, she told CNN.
“That’s when tragedy happened,” said the woman, who did not want to give her name. She said she had lost hope of ever seeing her husband alive again.
“Since Friday, we have been waiting to hear back from[local authorities]whether they will hand over the body to us, because they claim it is lifeless,” she told CNN.
Yulis Salcedo said she decorated her home with blue, yellow and red balloons, the colors of the Venezuelan flag, to welcome her 21-year-old son, Anderson, who was on a flight from Miami Wednesday morning.
Salcedo said in an interview with Reuters that Anderson arrived safely and was staying overnight in a hotel in La Guaira before returning home.
“He called me at 5 p.m. and said, ‘Mom, I love you so much. I’ll see you tomorrow at home,'” Salcedo told Reuters in an interview.
Anderson is currently in the hospital fighting for his life.
“I want justice, because it’s not fair that I have a son who at 21 years old has his leg amputated and is lying in bed with breathing support,” Salcedo said.
