(NEW YORK) — When Jose, a Venezuelan migrant who was seeking asylum in the United States, was awoken by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official at 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 8, he sensed he was being sent to Guantanamo Bay, home of the notorious U.S. prison camp that administration officials said would house the most violent “worst of the worst” migrants apprehended on American soil.
“When we got on the [military] plane, they put restraints on our hands, feet, and waist,” said Jose, who requested that his last name not be used out of fear of retribution. “They searched us and then sat us in a chair, tying us to it and binding our feet together. We hoped it wouldn’t be Guantanamo but in the end, that’s where we ended up.”
Jose is one of the more than 170 migrants who spent two weeks at the naval base before being sent to Venezuela. He told ABC News that while he had a suspicion he was being sent to Guantanamo, he claims U.S. officials never told him and the other migrants where they were being sent.
“Our minds were racing, thinking we were kidnapped, wondering who would get us out of there,” said Jose. “Because no one tells you anything.”
Jose told ABC News that he had traveled to Mexico’s northern border to wait for an asylum appointment that he requested through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection app, prior to it being shut down by the Trump administration. After three weeks of waiting and “no food or a place to stay,” he decided to surrender to authorities at the U.S. southern border. He was detained at a detention center until he was transferred to Guantanamo.
ABC News spoke with Jose and another Guantanamo detainee, Jhoan Bastidas Paz, in Spanish, and reviewed court testimonies from three other detainees about their experience on the naval base before they were released. They allege U.S. officials transferred them to Guantanamo despite their having no criminal records, and several claim they were denied phone calls with their attorneys and relatives despite repeated demands.
“From the moment we were there, we tried to kick the doors, we went on countless strikes,” Jose said. “We clogged the toilets and protested, we covered the cameras because the confinement is unbearable.”
Jose told ABC News the room in which he was placed had “cobwebs and a disgusting smell.” He said that he spent 10 days without a mattress.
“They give you food … but it’s like they don’t give you any, [it’s] very little food,” Jose said. “There came a point where I would lick the plate. The food had no salt, but I would still eat it as if it were very tasty, because I was hungry.”
Jose said he and the other detainees were only allowed outside twice in two weeks and were denied phone calls with their relatives and families.
“There are four cages outside,” Jose said. “That’s the yard. You leave one room to go into another cell.”
Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Bastidas Paz had surrendered to authorities after crossing the U.S. southern border from Mexico in 2023. He was charged with “improper entry” to which he pleaded guilty, and was in a detention center in El Paso, Texas, until he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
Both Jose and Bastidas Paz told ABC News they are not members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, despite the U.S. government saying they are.
“We’re not from Tren de Aragua or anything, we’re not criminals, we’re immigrants,” Bastidas Paz said. He said that officials never told him he was being sent to Guantanamo and then to Venezuela.
“I don’t think it’s fair that they’re taking us there, like that, with lies, because practically we’re being taken there, kidnapped, without telling us anything, and when we realize it, they leave us there, and I don’t think it’s fair,” Bastidas Paz said.
Bastidas Paz told ABC News that he went on a hunger strike with other detainees while they demanded information from officials. He also claims he was only allowed to shower three times during the time he was in Guantanamo.
“We are immigrants and we haven’t committed any crime to be taken to that very ugly prison,” Bastidas Paz said.
Jose said he has not been able to sleep since he arrived in Venezuela.
“I haven’t slept at all because of the fear that I might fall asleep and … I’d wake up back there,” he told ABC News. “That’s the terror I feel.”
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