Fears grow for 146 Venezuelan deportees missing after deadly earthquakes

More than 100 Venezuelans deported from Miami were missing after twin earthquakes collapsed the hotel in La Guaira where they had been taken for processing, turning a single removal flight into a desperate search for names, bodies and survivors. The June 24 flight carried 146 people, including 19 women and seven children, and landed in Venezuela around 10 a.m. before the passengers were moved to Hotel Santuario La Llanada, where the building later collapsed in the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes.

Some deportees were already confirmed dead and others remained unaccounted for as relatives tried to piece together who had escaped the rubble and who had not. Lisbeth Portillo said about 20 deportees got out of the collapsed hotel and walked about five kilometers looking for help.

The earthquake pair devastated La Guaira and other parts of Venezuela, and the official death toll climbed above 1,700, with thousands injured and many more still missing. Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency and sought international assistance. International Crisis Group analyst Phil Gunson said Venezuela’s emergency response capacity had been weakened by a decade of economic crisis.

ICE Flight Monitor, run by Human Rights First, tracked 12 deportation flights to Venezuela in May, after removals to the country resumed in February 2025 following a 13-month pause. The Department of Homeland Security said the flight safely reached Venezuela and that people on board were no longer ICE’s responsibility once they were out of custody, even as families kept searching the collapsed hotel and the list of the missing grew longer.