Villahermosa

Ramírez, 55, said they were then driven by Mexican authorities more than 700 miles south, and eventually released at a migrant shelter in the city of Villahermosa, in Tabasco state.

Leal once worked alongside 11 others at the tin-roofed shelter in the city of Villahermosa.

Nobody told them they were being taken to Villahermosa, an oil hub in southeastern Mexico, until they were well on their way.

“They left us in an industrial area of Villahermosa. There they let us go and I came here defeated.”

A Twitter feed for the project said initial flights would be going to Cancun, Tijuana, Merida, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Villahermosa in Mexico and Caracas, Venezuela.