News/Commentary

AP spins Venezuela quake into emotional plea for deported migrants

June 30, 2026 | | Print Article

The Associated Press is under fire for trying to blame the Trump administration for a June 24 earthquake that may have killed a group of Venezuelan illegal aliens who’d been deported home.

Since President Donald Trump assumed office in early 2025, the federal government has been busy rounding up illegal aliens and deporting them to their home country, including, among others, Venezuela.

Unfortunately, and quite sadly, a recent batch of Venezuelan illegal aliens who were deported home got immediately caught up in an earthquake.

“More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble,” the AP reported.

Exactly 146 Venezuelan illegal aliens, including 19 women and seven children, were flown home from Miami hours before the earthquake hit on June 24. Upon arrival, the Venezuelan illegals were booked at a hotel in La Guaira.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, was one of the illegals who survived.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” she tearfully told the AP. “I am traumatized.”

She went on to describe what happened: She was in a second-story room with 16 other women when she stepped outside onto the balcony for a few minutes. She later returned to the home where she lay on a bed, and then started feeling tremors.

“I started hearing ‘papa, papa papapa,’ and I saw the women next to me start to fall,” she recalled. “They were all screaming for help.”

Then all of a sudden, a second round of quakes hit.

“I fell and ended up buried and covered by a beam, but the shaking shifted everything where I was buried, and I was able to get out,” she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Portillo reportedly had bruises all over her body when she spoke with the AP.

The video below shows this specific group of Venezuelan illegal aliens arriving in Venezuela after their deportation:

Jenny Rodriguez, another illegal on the flight to Venezuela, also got caught in the earthquake.

“I was trapped under the rubble,” she said. “A colleague who had been on the same flight came by; I managed to free my hand from the debris, grabbed him by the trousers, and begged for help. Thanks to God — and to him — I was able to get out of there.”

ADVERTISEMENT

A woman named Luisa Quintero told ABC News that her aunt, Johana Pineda, her husband, Richard Pereira, and their son, Richi, were on the deportation flight, but that her husband didn’t survive the earthquake.

A Texas woman named Enit Hernández told NBC News that her deported husband, José Rafael Rossi Ydrogo, is now missing after the earthquake.

“On Tuesday he called me and said they told him to gather his belongings because he was leaving the next day,” she said. “That was the last time I ever heard from him.”

While all this is sad and tragic, critics have taken issue with the media’s insinuation that President Trump is to blame:

ADVERTISEMENT

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles