Venezuelan Interior Decorator Seeking Asylum Disappears After ICE Transfer

Relatives fear missing father of four is among migrants held at Guantanamo

José Abigail Rondon Mendoza, 39, was born in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, where he studied and worked as an interior decorator. “He has an eye for colors,” said a relative who declined to be named for this story. “He would pick the best curtains to match with the colors of walls, doors, and window trim.”

Rondon Mendoza, a father of four, left Venezuela in 2022, working two years in Peru before heading north to the U.S. In Mexico, he crossed the border and turned himself into border agents. After fifteen days at the El Paso Detention Center, he was deported back to Mexico in July, 2024. So he tried again, this time waiting for a CBP One app appointment on the advice of his family in the U.S.