SXSW Doc ‘Take No Prisoner' Follows America's Top Hostage Negotiator in Battle to Free L.A. Public Defender From Venezuelan Prison
In 'Take No Prisoners,' director Adam Ciralsky and Subrata De were given unprecedented access to America's former top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, as he battles to free L.A. public defender Eyvin Hernandez from a Venezuelan prison.
The opening sequence of the documentary could be mistaken for a Jason Bourne film. On a tarmac in Miami, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's nephews — convicted drug traffickers — are loaded onto a U.S. government plane to be exchanged for seven Americans: Matthew Heath, Osman Khan, and the so-called Citgo Five. Ciralsky was the only journalist-filmmaker on the tarmac at Joint Base San Antonio when the newly freed hostages arrived.
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But Ciralsky and De decided not to focus 'Take No Prisoners' on that 2022 recovery, which was the largest of its kind since Americans were released from Iran in 1981. Instead, the duo follow Carstens as he attempts to free Hernandez, an L.A. County deputy public defender who, in 2022, took a vacation to Colombia. There, he joined a friend on a trip to the Colombian-Venezuelan border to resolve a passport issue. At the border, Hernandez and his friend were intercepted by Venezuelan forces and jailed in a maximum security prison for 'criminal association and conspiracy.'
'While there was plenty of gold in retelling the events leading up to the initial Miami release (of the seven Americans), as filmmakers, Subrata and I felt that the odyssey to rescue Eyvin might make for a compelling vérité documentary,' says Ciralsky. 'We had no idea how difficult that would be, how long it would take, or how much it would cost.'
In 2022, Ciralsky was given unprecedented access by the Biden administration to embed in a hostage negotiation process with Carstens. Remarkably, the White House and Maduro's government allowed Ciralsky to observe, and in some cases, film negotiations that stretched from the tiny island of Canouan in the Grenadines to the Venezulan regime's stronghold in Caracas. Ciralsky ultimately turned his time with Carstens into a doc and a 2024 Vanity Fair article also titled 'Take No Prisoners,' which Lionsgate Television optioned and Hulu is developing into a scripted project titled 'The Envoy' with showrunner Alexi Hawley.
Variety spoke with Ciralsky and De about 'Take No Prisoners' ahead of the film's world premiere at SXSW on March 8.
What drew you to tell the story of Eyvin Hernandez's family's fight to get him back home?
Ciralsky: For all of the celebrity and media attention around Brittney Griner and Evan Gershkovich for good reason, because of their platform, we couldn't believe that an L.A. County public defender was rotting in a Venezuelan prison, and nobody was taking notice. It's necessarily advocacy, but we were the only people continually following Eyvin's story. There would be an occasional news hit in Los Angeles, but nobody was there following the journey of this family who didn't know any senators and were not friends with their congressmen.
De: It's also important to note that Roger treated everybody with the same level of priority. That was really important to illustrate. Roger really prioritized every American and their families in the same way. So, being able to see behind the scenes, which many people don't get to see, was really important to us.
The access that the Biden administration gave you was unbelievable. Why do you think they did that?
Ciralsky: I think they genuinely felt that this was one of their foreign policy achievements – securing the freedom of Americans from China, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela. Also, there wasn't another side, a constituency in Washington that was saying, 'You know what? I'm for keeping Americans in prison (in foreign countries).' So, it was that weird issue where they are like, 'Who is going to criticize us?'
De: Also, I think that because it was a documentary where we were following the story long-term, there just wasn't this kind of frenetic activity over managing stories that might be coming out the day of. So in their day-to-day, it felt far more measured in the sense.
This film transitions between moments of intense governmental and political drama, and moments of sympathetic, emotional anguish with the Hernandez family. How did you find the balance between these two contrasting tones?
De: The people at the center of these hostage situations, both in government and the families, live in a slow – often drawn out – high-wire emotional state. For the families, it's a visceral nightmare. There isn't a moment when they aren't living in this miasma of the unknown. Plagued by constant questions. Could we be doing more? What is happening to our person? And emotionally tortured by glimmers of hope – and then massive let-downs. The intense political and government drama is also an emotional roller coaster for the teams involved. They get so close to getting someone home, as you see in the film, and then, an obstacle or unknown block shuts it all down. It's crushing. So the family and hostage rescue team stories are very much interwoven. It was a shared emotional landscape
How are you feeling about finding distribution for 'Take No Prisoners' out of SXSW?
Ciralsky: We have some interest. It's this weird out-of-order, non-sequential thing that we have going on. There's an article, then the article will become a scripted series, and then the documentary comes out.
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Yahoo
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- Yahoo
ICE arrested an Albuquerque man. He ended up in the hospital. Now no one knows where he is.
Jesus Jose Carrero-Marquez, 30, right, and his family pose during a recent graduation celebration for their daughter at an Albuquerque school. Carrero-Marquez was hospitalized after a federal immigration law enforcement arrest May 31 in Albuquerque's South Valley. After being detained somewhere in Texas, his wife hasn't heard from him, and records show he's no longer in custody. (Photo courtesy Daniela Marina Diaz-Ortiz) Last Saturday around 8 a.m., as she followed her husband to a mechanic in Albuquerque's South Valley, Daniela Marina Diaz-Ortiz says she and her 5-year-old daughter watched, terrified, as federal immigration agents leapt out of four SUVs and pulled her husband to the ground. 'They stopped him and took him out of the car. They didn't ask him for any identification. They didn't tell him he was under arrest or anything like that,' she told Source in Spanish in an interview outside her home Monday afternoon. 'They just pulled him out of the car, threw him on the ground, putting their feet on his back and head. At that moment, they also lifted him up by his neck and forced him into the truck.' Jesus Jose Carrero-Marquez, 30, was hospitalized at the Presbyterian Hospital emergency room for hours, potentially due to injuries sustained in the arrest, his wife and others told Source NM. Agents who waited outside Carrero-Marquez's room told hospital workers that the detainee was a violent gang member, according to New Mexico Rep. Eleanor Chavez (D-Albuquerque), who advocates on behalf of working conditions for healthcare workers across the state. Chavez said she learned of the arrest from a hospital worker and relayed to Source what the worker told her. Diaz-Ortiz adamantly denied her husband is violent or a criminal or in a gang. Source's review of state and federal criminal records for Carrero-Marquez showed only a local traffic ticket in January. Instead, Diaz-Ortiz said he is a father and husband who makes a living as a Doordash delivery driver, while seeking asylum on behalf of himself and his family after being injured in a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro several years ago. The lawyer representing his appeal did not respond to requests for comment. Diaz-Ortiz showed Source photos the family is using in its asylum appeal that show what appear to be injuries to Carrero-Marquez's leg and back, which left him with a punctured lung and a limp, she said. Source could not determine why federal immigration authorities arrested Carrero-Marquez on May 31; why they purportedly took him to the hospital; where he is being detained; or whether he's been deported. ICE offers Albuquerque immigrant reprieve — for now A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to questions from Source about Carrero-Marquez's arrest, their alleged use of force or his current location. A spokesperson said the agency would respond but had not as of publication time after multiple requests. Source will update the story as necessary. Advocates, including Chavez and immigration lawyers, have tried since May 31 to find him, including enlisting the help of U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich's office. A Heinrich spokesperson said the office had made efforts to find him but that 'ICE is not providing timely or helpful responses to our inquiries.' A recent change to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention policies has made it difficult to determine whether someone is in jail and, if so, at which detention center, said Sophia Genovese, a lawyer for the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center who joined efforts this week to find Carrero-Marquez. Following his arrest, Carrero-Marquez called his wife from detention somewhere in El Paso, Diaz-Ortiz said, and described severe pain in his head and back from the arrest, she said. The last time she spoke to him, on Sunday, her husband 'told me that they were taking him away, that he didn't know where they were going, that he hadn't seen a judge to decide whether he would be ordered to leave the country or not.' When she hadn't heard from him again on Tuesday, Diaz-Ortiz told Source she felt certain he was gone. 'I believe my husband has already been deported,' she said, because otherwise, 'I believe he would have called me.' On Wednesday morning, Diaz-Ortiz said she woke up after a long night of making deliveries to check ICE detention records for updates, which she's done multiple times a day since his arrest. She discovered, and Source confirmed, he was no longer listed in custody as of Wednesday morning. And he still had not called her, she told Source. 'I still don't know anything about what happened to him,' she said. Carrero-Marquez's arrest follows the pattern of recent ICE detentions, which leave little trail for lawyers or advocates to follow, said Genovese with the Immigration Law Center. After being arrested and hospitalized, Carrero-Marquez called his wife from his hospital bed, she said. But hospital workers would neither confirm he was there nor allow her to see or speak with him in the emergency room, she said. While the hospital would not confirm that Carrero-Marquez was hospitalized, a spokesperson said it has 'Do Not Announce' protocols as part of federal patient privacy regulations and that patients may be under that protocol 'for many reasons.' The hospital staff had no choice but to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, the hospital worker told Chavez, the state representative. A spokesperson for Presbyterian told Source that, while it cannot discuss specific patients, it is legally required to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies. 'We do not have policies designed to help or hinder any law enforcement or other governmental agencies,' a spokesperson said in an emailed statement Friday. Confusion reigns in New Mexico's militarized border zone The officers took Carrero-Marquez to jail, likely to the Torrance County Detention Center in Estancia, Genovese said, though jail records never showed him being held there. Diaz-Ortiz was the first person to hear from him, a few days after the arrest, when he called from El Paso, she said. Before Wednesday, when his name disappeared completely, ICE records didn't say where he's being held, and instead only said 'Texas,' instead of a facility name and address. According to Genovese, he could have been held at either the El Paso Service Processing Center or at a nearby former Border Patrol holding facility intended for short-term use that ICE recently took over. The ICE takeover of the holding facility has resulted in confusion and difficulty for lawyers seeking to speak to their clients. It also means no one knows where detainees are being held. 'This is like a new trend, where we're seeing a lot of people have the exact same situation where… it just says, 'Texas.' It doesn't provide a detention facility,' Genovese said. As for why he might be in jail in the first place, Genovese said ICE agents increasingly have less discretion about detaining people who, like Carrero-Marquez, are appealing denials of asylum claims. According to online records and a document provided by Diaz-Ortiz, a judge denied Carrero-Marquez's asylum request in February. Records also show he is appealing that denial, and that the appeal is pending. While he has not yet received a final removal order, ICE has discretion to detain him during 'removal proceedings,' his current status., Genovese said. That said, given the sheer number of people currently in 'removal proceedings' with pending appeals, ICE typically would not find and detain people until a final removal order is issued, Genovese said. New Mexico sheriffs respond to federal 'sanctuary' list ICE, 'for very real capacity reasons, given the limited number of beds nationwide and the millions of cases pending at immigration court, frequently exercised discretion in the form of releasing people on their own recognizance pending their removal proceedings,' Genovese said But President Donald Trump's push for mass deportation has removed ICE's choice about when and where to arrest people, she said. 'It's changed now under the Trump administration, where there is a mandate, a requirement, that ICE make thousands of arrests per day,' she said. 'And they are targeting people with active removal proceedings, many of whom do not have any sort of interaction with law enforcement which would trigger mandatory detention.' Carrero-Marquez's daughter recently celebrated graduation at a South Valley school. His wife shared a picture showing the three of them smiling, with her in a graduation gown. Since witnessing her father's arrest, the girl is depressed, Diaz-Ortiz said, and afraid of anyone who looks like a police officer. Diaz-Ortiz doesn't know whether ICE will come next for her or her daughter, whether she should enroll her daughter back in school or what to do next. But she still has to work. On Tuesday, she took her daughter along with her as she made deliveries for DoorDash, she said, suddenly the sole caregiver and sole income earner in her family. Amid the confusion and uncertainty about her husband's whereabouts, Diaz-Ortiz said she is terrified about the prospect of him being deported back to Venezuela due to his injuries and the government's repressive policies. 'In Venezuela you can't speak freely or say what you want because they attack you,' she said. 'We came here for a better future.' 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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
CBP Warning: Don't Fall For Phone Scams Impersonating Border Agents
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaders are now warning Americans to be on high alert for phone scams that continue to target people around the country, pretending to be from the agency and attempting to steal money or social security numbers. According to a statement from CBP officials in Houston, the scam often involves fake calls from people claiming to be CBP agents or Border Patrol officers, asking for Social Security numbers, banking details, or payments to 'resolve' scam investigations. Sometimes, the calls have even referenced fake shipments of drugs or cash allegedly tied to the recipient's name or address, hoping to scare the recipient into offering up money or other valuable personal information in order to fix the potential legal threat. 'Anyone receiving a call from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about self-deportation, or a shipment of drugs or money should recognize that it is a scam regardless of how authentic the caller may sound,' said Rod Hudson, CBP's Acting Director of Field Operations in Houston. Hudson also warned the public that CBP will never call to demand money or threaten citizens with police action if they don't comply. 'If CBP suspects illegal activity, we will not call a suspect or a victim requesting money or Social Security numbers. To be clear, CBP will not make telephone calls threatening citizens that law enforcement is on the way or promising money for information,' Hudson added. Scammers often try to sound convincing, sometimes using the real names of CBP employees – easily found online -and giving out fake case numbers or badge numbers to boost their 'credibility.' Other scammers use robocalls instructing recipients to press a number to 'speak with an officer,' only to demand banking information or payments. The CBP is now urging the public to remain vigilant regardless of how 'real' a scammer may sound. If you receive a call like this, the CBP recommends the following steps: 1. Hang up immediately. 2. Never share your Social Security number, credit card details, or banking information over the phone. 3. Don't trust caller ID or numbers left in voicemails – scammers can fake them. 4. Always verify any suspicious calls by visiting CBP's official website or calling a publicly listed phone number. CBP officials also detailed in their recent statement that the agency does not solicit money over the phone and would never ask for payment from the public through gift cards, cryptocurrency, or wire transfers of any kind. Texans who suspect they've received a scam call can report it to the Federal Trade Commission's official online form.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
ICE raids accelerate, protests spread
Evening Report is The Hill's P.M. newsletter. Sign up here or subscribe in the box below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here THE WHITE HOUSE vowed Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would continue 'unabated,' as protests spread from Los Angeles into other major American cities. Demonstrations have sprung up in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Austin, Denver, San Francisco and other major cities. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sought to rally the nation to his side, as U.S. Marines prepared to join National Guard troops dispatched to keep the peace in Los Angeles. 'This isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles,' Newsom said in a direct-to-camera address. 'This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.' The White House warned protesters there would be consequences if demonstrations in other cities get out of hand. 'Let this be an unequivocal message to left-wing radicals in other parts of the country who might be thinking about copy-catting the violence in an effort to stop this administration's mass deportation efforts,' said press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'You will not succeed. Any lawlessness will only strengthen this president's resolve to defend the majority of Americans who want to live their lives peacefully, free from the fear of violent criminal illegal aliens.' The New York Police Department said at least 80 people were arrested at anti-ICE protests in lower Manhattan on Tuesday night. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) deployed the National Guard to deal with protests in his state. 'Peaceful protest is legal,' Abbott posted on X. 'Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest. @TexasGuard will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order.' ICE took more than 70 people into custody during an immigration enforcement operation at a meat packaging facility in Omaha. Leavitt said more than 330 people in the country illegally have been arrested in Los Angeles over the past few days, and that more than 100 had prior criminal convictions. 'This administration is going to continue the mass deportation effort that the president promised the American public,' she said. President Trump's border czar Tom Homan said the protests are making immigration raids and deportations 'difficult' and 'dangerous' for the officers seeking to carry them out. 'They're not going to stop us,' Homan told 'NBC Nightly News' anchor Tom Llamas. 'They're not going to slow us down.' Organizers with 'No Kings' are planning about 1,500 demonstrations across the country to protest the military parade scheduled for Saturday in D.C. to mark the Army's 250th birthday. It's also Trump's 79th birthday. 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'I guess I could,' Trump said in a podcast interview. 'But you know, we have to straighten out the country. Yeah, and my sole function now is getting this country back to a level higher than it's ever been.' Trump said he was mostly upset at Musk for trying to sink his 'big, beautiful bill.' Musk has been raging at the levels of spending and debt in the Trump agenda bill ever since his time at the White House leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came to an end. 'I have no hard feelings,' Trump told the New York Post's Miranda Devine. 'I was really surprised that that happened,' Trump continued. 'He went after a bill… And when he did that, I was not a happy camper.' The New York Times reports that Trump and Musk spoke on the phone ahead of Musk's expression of regret. 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