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.
Migrant Insider is sponsored by
After two months of waiting in Mexico, Rondon Mendoza received his CBP One app appointment for 7 AM on September 26, again at the El Paso Detention Center, where he turned himself in along with seven other migrants for processing. That’s when things started to go wrong.
At El Paso, according to accounts from a relative of Rondon Mendoza’s and one of the migrants who crossed with him, José Abigail was separated from the group and told to remove the laces from his shoes. Agents told him that he was being detained separately because he crossed the border twice which, to him, made no sense.
“They were treating him like a criminal when all he did was show up for his appointment,” said a relative, who provided us with a document Rondon Mendoza presented to immigration authorities at El Paso.
The certified document is a confirmation from the Venezuelan government in Caracas that Rondon Mendoza has no criminal record in his home country.
José Abigail called his family every day for the four months he was detained in El Paso. He passed the feared credible exam to apply for asylum, according to relatives, and had submitted his sponsorship paperwork to be released into the U.S. with the help of a non-profit worker at the detention center.
But detention weighed heavily on Rondon Mendoza, who gave up hope of ever being released from detention. So he decided to sign a voluntary deportation order. He thought that he would be deported to Miami, but ICE had other plans.
Migrant Insider is sponsored by
On the morning of Monday, February 10, a relative of Rondon Mendoza’s received a call at 2 AM Eastern Time from the El Paso Detention Center. José Abigail was confused and disoriented. “He told me that he was being transferred, but he wasn’t sure where,” said the relative. “There were rumors he was being sent to Miami but that didn’t make sense because they were supposed to deport him to Venezuela,” they said.
That was the last time José Abigail’s family has heard from him. He is believed to be among over 150 migrants ICE has transferred to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Rondon Mendoza’s case in the agency’s detainee locator shows that he was transferred to Miami, but DHS sources tell us that the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center has yet to be coded into ICE’s system.
While José Abigail has not been listed on any governmental or press list of detainees transferred to Guantanamo, his case fits a disturbing trend of migrants transferred to the infamous prison from the El Paso Detention Center despite never having stepped foot on U.S. soil as a free man.
Like other detainee families interviewed by Migrant Insider in the last week, Rondon Mendoza’s case carries with it the added weight of documents from Venezuela certifying that he had no criminal record there, evidence that directly contradicts claims by DHS that Guantanamo is being used to house violent criminals with gang ties. DHS did not immediately reply to a request for comment. This is a developing story.
Thanks for reading Migrant Insider. Follow our work on X, Bsky, Threads, and Reddit. To inquire about sponsorships, email sponsor@migrantinsider.com. Subscribe below for $5/month or $49/year,, if you haven’t already. Our work is made possible by the generous support of readers like you.