The US deported 177 Venezuelans from the military base in Guantanamo in Honduras, from where they will be transported to their homeland, Reuters reports, citing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, BTA reports.
Earlier, the Honduran government announced that it was expecting the arrival of 170 Venezuelan citizens from the US, who would be “immediately” sent to Venezuela. The transfer will take place from the US-Honduran military base "Soto Cano", authorities in Tegucigalpa said.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Gil said on Telegram that Caracas had requested the repatriation of its citizens who were "unjustly" detained in Guantanamo. They will be transported from Honduras on a flight operated by Venezuelan airline “Conviasa“.
Lawyers for nearly half of the deportees revealed that their clients only learned of the transfer at the last minute.
The deportations began after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last week seeking access to dozens of migrants detained at the US naval base in Guantanamo.
Among the deportees are 126 people with criminal charges and 51 without criminal records.
Yesterday, a plane carrying 135 deported migrants, mostly of Asian origin and half of them minors, landed in Costa Rica. This makes the country the second Latin American stop for deported migrants from the US after Panama.
From the capital San Jose, the migrants will be taken to a center near the Panamanian border, where they will be held for 30 days before being repatriated.
Reducing protections for Haitians
Meanwhile, US Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noam has reduced the duration of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for 521,000 Haitians.
The new decision reverses former President Joe Biden's order to extend the program until February 2026. Noam said such an extension would be "unfair", and the program is set to expire in August.