Latin American migrants deported by ICE to West Africa describe being stranded “on the other side of the world”

September 15, 2026 / 8:09 AM EDT / CBS News

Monrovia, Liberia — None of the deported men and women placed in a three-story hotel in a remote, coastal area of this West African country are Liberian citizens. Many are not even from Africa.

Instead, they hail from countries throughout Latin America — including Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela — as well as other African countries, like Cameroon and Eritrea.

They were deported to Liberia, Africa's oldest republic, last month by U.S. immigration officials as part of an intensifying tactic in President Trump's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration: sending some deportees to far-flung places where they have no ties.

CBS News tracked down the deportees in Liberia, becoming the first U.S. television network to speak to them in person. They described being in limbo and feeling stateless, unable to return to the U.S., where many have spouses and children, and scared of being persecuted if they go back to their homelands.

"I'm concerned," Honduran native Elvis Rodriguez Venturas told CBS News. "I feel far away, on the other side of the world."

Rodriguez Venturas said his four children, two of whom are U.S. citizens, ask him every day when…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/