00:00Y, paola, ¿de dónde eres? ¿De dónde eres? ¿De dónde eres?
00:29donde ahora están estrellando miles de miles de la U.S. y sus homelands.
00:35Nunca de los deportes que hemos metido en el hotel más de una hora de Monrovia
00:41fueron de Liberia.
00:43En fact, no de ellos fueron de África.
00:46¿De dónde están?
00:48De Honduras.
00:50Venezuela.
00:51Colombia.
00:52Honduras.
00:53I'm from Guatemala.
00:55Venezuela.
00:56The six deported men who agreed to talk to us said they had been living and working
01:00in places across the U.S. before being detained by ICE
01:03and then deported to Liberia in August.
01:06Where did you live in the U.S.?
01:08En la ciudad de Kenner, el estado de Luciana.
01:10En Dallas, Texas.
01:12En Dallas, Texas.
01:13En Dallas, Texas.
01:15Nashville, Tennessee.
01:16Houston, Texas.
01:17They told us they only found out they were being deported to West Africa
01:21hours before the deportation plane took off.
01:24Or, in some cases, in the middle of the flight.
01:27Si, yo nunca escuché de este país.
01:29Es más, ni sabía que existía.
01:31Nunca, nunca fui notificado, no sé nada.
01:34Honestamente, no.
01:35Nunca había escuchado de Liberia.
01:37Sí, un país completamente desconocido para mí.
01:39Y que yo podía hacer regresar.
01:41Brazilian immigrant Paola Ferreira dos Santos
01:43was the only woman among the Latin American deportees sent to Liberia.
01:48She told us she found out where she had been deported to
01:51after the plane landed.
01:52When did he learn?
01:54Cuando el avión pousó aquí,
01:56que yo desido avión, que fui a primera desce,
02:00y ellos falo, ven, vindo a Liberia, você está en África.
02:03Liberia es a small country in West Africa
02:06that was founded by free slaves from the U.S.
02:08It is home to more than 5 million people
02:10and roughly the size of Tennessee.
02:13It is also now one of more than 30 so-called third countries
02:16that are helping the Trump administration
02:18in its mass deportation campaign.
02:21Countries across Latin America,
02:23like Panama and Costa Rica,
02:24as well as other African nations,
02:26including Equatorial Guinea,
02:28the Central African Republic,
02:29and Rwanda,
02:30have also signed third country deportation deals
02:32with the U.S.
02:34Liberia's agreement with the Trump administration
02:36is one of the largest,
02:38with the country in West Africa agreeing
02:40to receive up to 1,200 deported migrants from the U.S.
02:44The deportees we spoke to told us
02:47they had no say in the arrangement.
02:49Did any of you give ICE permission
02:52to deport you here to Liberia?
02:53No.
02:55No, no.
02:56No, en ningún momento fui notificado.
02:58En ningún momento.
02:59En ningún momento estuvo.
03:01En ningún momento.
03:03None of you agreed to be deported here to Liberia.
03:08Incertidumbre.
03:09Eso es lo que siento en este momento.
03:11No saber qué va a pasar.
03:14Qué va a pasar con nosotros.
03:17Hasta dónde va a llegar esta pesadilla.
03:24Just last year,
03:25Venezuelan immigrant Carlos Della Sánchez
03:27was delivering food and selling cars in Texas,
03:32including through TikTok videos like this one.
03:36The 37-year-old is now nearly 6,000 miles away
03:40from his wife
03:41and their six-month-old American baby in Dallas.
03:43Ya tenemos cuatro semanas aquí en África.
03:48Han sido momentos difíciles,
03:52momentos en los que he hablado con mi familia,
03:58he llorado,
04:00momentos de mucha nostalgia,
04:03de mucho sentimiento.
04:04Luego de que estás ocho meses detenido,
04:08de que consideras que se ha hecho contigo
04:12una gran injusticia hacia mi persona,
04:15una persona de bien.
04:17Luego de que consideras todo eso
04:19y que te das cuenta de que aún estando,
04:22habiendo estando detenido durante ocho largos meses,
04:24recibiendo injusticias,
04:26tratos como si fueras un delincuente,
04:30te envían a un país en el que no conocías,
04:35un país que no tiene ninguna relación contigo.
04:39Like many of the deportees we met,
04:41De de Sanchez was placed in deportation proceedings
04:44after entering the U.S. illegally.
04:46But we could not find any criminal charges
04:49or convictions on his record.
04:51In fact, CBS News obtained the names
04:53of all 15 deportees sent to Liberia on August 20th.
04:57And we could not find criminal records
04:59for the vast majority,
05:00beyond immigration and traffic violations.
05:02In the U.S., did you get in trouble with the law?
05:05Did you have any criminal record?
05:07No, en ningún momento, pues,
05:10tuve ningún inconveniente con la ley.
05:12En ningún momento, ni siquiera,
05:14puede decirlo exageradamente,
05:15ni un tique para decir que...
05:1731-year-old Colombian native
05:19Aydin García Yepes told us
05:20he worked in construction in Texas.
05:23We investigated his federal court case
05:25in the U.S.
05:26and discovered a federal judge
05:28had ordered his release
05:29from ICE custody.
05:30The only problem,
05:32the order was issued over a week
05:33after ICE had sent García Yepes to Liberia.
05:36What is the plan now here in Africa?
05:39Pues ahora, siendo honesto,
05:41me encuentro como en el limbo, sinceramente.
05:45You're in limbo?
05:46Si.
05:46García Yepes and the other deportees
05:48have been staying in rooms
05:49inside this hotel
05:51close to the Atlantic Ocean.
05:53Their meals and basic necessities
05:55are provided by the United Nations Migration Agency.
05:58And that's your wife.
05:58Unable to work in Liberia,
06:00they spend much of their days
06:02calling relatives in the U.S.
06:04and Latin America.
06:05They've been told
06:06not to venture too far away
06:07from the hotel
06:08for their own safety.
06:27The deportees we met here in Liberia
06:29say they cannot go back to the U.S.
06:31as they have been banned for years
06:33and many tell us
06:34that they are scared
06:35of being persecuted
06:36back in their home countries.
06:37Imposible.
06:39You've been told by attorneys
06:40that it is now effectively impossible
06:42to be able to return to the U.S.
06:4821-year-old Ferreira dos Santos
06:50says she deeply misses her father.
06:52They lived together in Massachusetts
06:54where she worked as a cleaner.
06:56She spoke to us in Portuguese.
06:58What has been the most difficult part
07:00about being here in Africa?
07:03It's far from my family.
07:05And now what I'm going to do
07:08is I'm going to go to Brazil
07:10to take my documents
07:11and from Brazil I'll go to the countries.
07:15You plan on going back to Brazil
07:17but only to get documents
07:19and then leave.
07:20¿Piensas ir a Brasil
07:21pero solo a recoger documentos y después?
07:24For Honduran deportee
07:26Elvis Rodríguez Ventura
07:27returning to his home country
07:28is not an option.
07:30Sí, claro que sí.
07:31Por eso me fui
07:32debido a los problemas
07:33del país de inseguridad.
07:35Tenía problemas allá.
07:36Corría peligro mi vida.
07:37Por eso decidí viajar a Estados Unidos.
07:39In November 2019
07:41an immigration judge in the U.S.
07:43granted Rodríguez Ventura
07:44a legal protection
07:45known as withholding of removal.
07:48Barring ICE
07:49from deporting him to Honduras
07:50due to concerns
07:51he could be persecuted there.
07:53Most of the deportees
07:55we spoke to
07:56received the same protections.
07:58They blocked ICE
07:59from sending the deportees
08:00to their homelands
08:01but technically left the door open
08:03to deportation
08:04to a third country
08:05like Liberia.
08:06Son muchos sentimientos
08:09de impotencia.
08:11Powerless.
08:11Sí, impotencia
08:12porque mira
08:13mira la situación
08:14como estamos.
08:15No sé qué va a pasar conmigo.
08:19Me siento triste
08:19a la vez
08:20por mi familia, mi familia.
08:22Two of his four children
08:23are U.S. citizens.
08:25They remain in Texas
08:26alongside their mother.
08:28Ahora estoy lejos
08:29sin saber qué va a pasar conmigo.
08:32Entonces sí, estoy preocupado.
08:34Me siento lejos
08:35al otro lado del mundo, imagínate.
08:36In a statement,
08:38the Department of Homeland Security
08:39said people in the U.S.
08:40illegally should be self-deporting,
08:42taking advantage
08:43of a $3,000 stipend
08:45the administration
08:46has been offering immigrants
08:47who voluntarily leave the U.S.
08:49It added that it is finding
08:52quote,
08:52safe and secure nations
08:53to send deportees
08:54who claim
08:55they could be persecuted
08:56in their home countries.
08:59Back in Liberia,
09:00officials say
09:01the deportees
09:02can apply for asylum here.
09:03But none of the ones
09:05we spoke to plan
09:06on staying
09:06in the West African country.
09:18And there's no way
09:19you're staying here
09:20without your family.
09:26Rodriguez Ventura
09:27and the other deportees
09:28say they feel stateless.
09:31Do you feel like men
09:32without a country now?
09:33Sí.
09:34Sí, de verdad que sí.
09:35Yes.
09:36Correcto.
09:37Yes.
09:37Así me siento.
09:38Yes.
09:39Sí.
09:40Yes.
09:40Sí.
09:41Yes.
09:42Sí.
09:42Yes.
10:07Yes.
10:09Gracias.
