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.

The base had been cleared of migrants since Thursday, after the government sent 177 to Venezuela and one back to the United States.

U.S. immigration and military authorities say they have transferred exclusively Venezuelan immigrants who are subject to final deportation orders to the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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.