Authorities in California are investigating who is behind the transportation of 16 migrants who ended up on the doorstep of a diocese in Sacramento Friday after being flown on a private charter jet from New Mexico.

The Venezuelan and Colombian migrants entered the United States in El Paso and had been processed by American immigration officials with court dates for asylum claims, according to the Associated Press. After crossing, “individuals representing a private contractor” offered to get them to their final destination, said Eddie Carmona, campaign director for PICO California, a nonprofit that describes itself as “spiritually-rooted individuals who take action for racial and economic justice in California.” From El Paso, the migrants were transported to New Mexico and then to California, ending up at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.

“They were lied to and intentionally deceived,” said Carmona.