Abelardo Rincón, 23, had grown a new home in Georgia for six years, welding at a car dealership, marrying, and awaiting the birth of his daughter. He and more than 140 other Venezuelans were detained by U.S. authorities and deported back to Venezuela on Flight 164 in late June.
The flight landed in the coastal state of La Guaira on 24 June, where the deportees were placed in Hotel Santuario La Llanada after medical checks and paperwork. Families had just managed to confirm Rincón’s return when twin earthquakes of 5.3‑magnitude slammed the region within hours of their arrival.
The devastating tremors claimed at least 2,200 lives, injured more than 10,000 residents and left an estimated 50,000 missing, according to United Nations data. Many deportees—Rincón included—were among the missing, and their families have struggled to locate them amidst both the chaos of the disaster and the lack of official information.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that the flight reached Venezuela and that all “illegal aliens” aboard were returned, but offered no details about individual cases. This ambiguity has left families in a state of shock and uncertainty as they search for information about loved ones who were once in ICE custody.
Survivors of the quake account for having been trapped for days beneath rubble; some were eventually rescued, while others suffered severe injuries and amputations. When families reached the damaged hotel, authorities explained that the site was “lifeless,” preventing them from seeing the aftermath or searching for missing persons.
Despite the grim statistics, some families received help from relatives and rescue workers who managed to locate certain deportees alive. Yet many others—like the wife of Darwin Eliecer Serrano Lopez, who had lived in the U.S. for four years—still wait for confirmation that their loved ones are safe and can be identified for burial procedures.
The tragedy underscores the compounded risks faced by diaspora communities: the plight of in‑country displacement, the fragility of administrative oversight during migrations, and the vulnerability to natural calamities that can erase connections instantly.
