MIAMI (AP) — In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that struck Venezuela, over 100 individuals recently deported from the United States are currently sheltering in a hotel, as reports surface about survivors and the grim reality of bodies buried in the rubble.
Deportation flights from Miami to Caracas took off just hours ahead of Wednesday’s earthquake, carrying 146 Venezuelans—among them 19 women and seven children—according to ICE Flight Monitor, a Human Rights First initiative that monitors such flights.
Lisbeth Portillo, 58, recounted how she and approximately 20 fellow deportees managed to escape the hotel and navigate through the wreckage in search of help. In La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas from the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, many people were seen emerging from the debris, some disoriented and barefoot.
“We walked about five kilometers, crying as we went… unable to reach him,” Portillo shared during a telephone interview from her home in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
The group eventually arrived at a National Guard facility, where they were given a chance to contact their relatives.
“I feel reborn; God has given me a second chance,” Portillo expressed, though her eyes were filled with tears as she spoke of her trauma.
Venezuela’s government has reported a staggering death toll, claiming more than 1,700 lives lost due to the quakes.
Survivors’ Struggles After Deportation
Portillo was part of the mass deportations pushed by the Trump administration. In May, ICE Flight Monitor documented 288 deportation flights to various countries, including notable destinations such as Burkina Faso, Cambodia, and Chile.
For Venezuela specifically, the U.S. operated 12 deportation flights in May, running three times a week. After a 13-month pause, these flights resumed in February 2025.
Upon arrival, Portillo and her group were taken to Hotel Santuario La Llanada, where they underwent medical evaluations and obtained identification papers, with assurances that they would be sent home the following day.
While staying in a room with 16 other women on the second floor, Portillo stepped out onto the balcony to gaze at the ocean, only to find the sky ominously dark. The oppressive heat prompted her to return inside, where she soon felt intense shaking.
“I started hearing people scream ‘daddy, daddy, daddy,’ and I witnessed the women around me collapse,” she recalled as the quake struck. “They were all crying for help.”
As a second earthquake hit, Portillo found herself trapped, pinned beneath debris and a beam. “I managed to escape as the shaking dislodged the debris,” she said, recounting her harrowing experience.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not yet responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press regarding these incidents.
A social media video posted by the Venezuelan government captured deportees arriving at Caracas airport that day, welcomed by local authorities.
Jenny Rodriguez, 24, recounted her ordeal to Telemundo Network, stating that she was trapped under debris after the quake. With the help of a fellow deportee from the same flight, she was able to break free and call for assistance.
“Thanks to God and him, I managed to escape,” Rodriguez said, expressing her relief and gratitude.
Another deportee, Liliana Rojas, shared her anxious search for her 33-year-old partner, who she was informed had also been deported. “No one has any answers,” she lamented.
New Beginnings Amid Despair
Portillo, who had crossed into the U.S. via Mexico in November 2021 and was awaiting an asylum decision, struggled to recall her child’s phone number in the chaos. Instead, she reached out to her husband back in the United States.
“Cesar, I’m alive. Please help me,” she told him, with her husband initially unable to comprehend the news. “I reassured him, ‘I survived the rubble; I’m alive,’” she recounted emotionally.
Her husband contacted their children, who quickly came to reunite with their mother the following night.
“I was born on that day. I was reborn on the 24th,” Portillo reflected, expressing profound gratitude for her new lease on life after enduring the traumatic events that unfolded in Venezuela.
