Venezuelan men say they were shackled during deportation flight to Liberia
Aug 19, 2026·Location: Alexandria, LA
Country of origin: Venezuela

Two Venezuelan men, identified only as C. (36) and A. (45), said they were deported from the United States to Liberia and remained chained hand and foot for the roughly 15-hour flight. C. had lived and worked legally in the U.S. for five years under a renewable temporary residency permit, selling cars by day and delivering food at night, but was detained for eight months after a routine immigration check-in and moved through nine detention facilities before being deported; he missed the birth of his now five-month-old son and can only see him by video call. A. had worked in the wind energy sector and said he and his wife, who both had protections against being sent back to Venezuela, went together to a routine immigration appointment where she was released but he was detained and later deported after passing through four facilities without his attorney being informed. Both men were part of an initial group of 20 people sent to Liberia under an agreement between the Trump administration and the Liberian government to accept about 1,200 deportees over one year; six of the 20 refused to disembark and were instead sent to Equatorial Guinea, while the rest were taken to a hotel in Marshall, near Monrovia.
Sources
- “Nos tuvieron encadenados todo el viaje”: venezolanos relatan su deportación a Liberia - El Venezolano News
elvenezolanonewspaper.com·Sep 7, 2026·archived copy
- Venezolanos deportados por Estados Unidos a Liberia denuncian que “nos tuvieron encadenados todo el viaje”
centrovenezolanos.com·Sep 7, 2026·archived copy
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