146 Venezuelans were deported from Texas to Caracas on June 24, and hours later powerful twin earthquakes struck while the deportees were processed in a guarded hotel in La Guaira, collapsing the building.
One of the dead was Angelo Mejía Meléndez; his family said he had worked at a pier in Miami and identified his body by a distinctive pizza tattoo on his arm, Georgelyss Montes said.
The Venezuelan agency in charge of transporting the deportees declined to say how many have survived, and family members dispute the agency's account; Alonso Guanipa Toyo said his brother, 32-year-old Víctor, is among the missing and that his family is searching hospitals and morgues.
Alonso Guanipa Toyo said Víctor lived in Pecos, Texas, worked in construction by day and as a rideshare driver at night, and that he was detained by immigration authorities in Texas on June 12.
Oswadeliz Nuñez said her son, Daniel Núñez, called about 30 minutes before the earthquake to say he had landed and was being processed; she said Daniel had lived in Jacksonville, Florida, worked in construction, had been arrested in May, and that she has not heard from him since. "Venezuelans are not animals," she said.
It is unclear whether the Trump administration will continue to deport Venezuelans post-earthquakes, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.