On Feb. 7, he and other Venezuelan men in ICE detention in El Paso were awakened and told they were going back to Venezuela, Purroy Roldan said. They were transported to Miami and put aboard a military plane – and realized they were actually going to Guantanamo.

A plane carrying more than 170 Venezuelan migrants who were held in Guantanamo Bay after being deported from the US arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, according to CNN sources.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Nearly 200 Venezuelan immigrants to the U.S. were returned to their home country after being detained at Guantanamo Bay, in a flurry of flights that forged an unprecedented pathway for U.S. deportations.

The U.S. government and a Venezuelan state airline flew 177 Venezuelan migrants from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras and on to Venezuela on Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security said.

A U.S. defense official confirmed to VOA that a C-130 military cargo plane carrying migrants left Fort Bliss in Texas and arrived at Guantanamo Bay on Sunday. A second defense official said all 17 migrants were assessed to be “high threat” and are being held at the base’s detention facility.