Latest news with #CapachoNuevo
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
He left Venezuela as an asylum seeker, dreaming of a career in cosmetics in the US. He was deported to a Salvadoran prison
A year ago, Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela to seek a better future in the United States. He wanted to continue growing his career as a makeup artist. He left behind his lifelong home in the little town of Capacho Nuevo, where he lived with his mother, father, and younger brother. On May 23, 2024 – just two days after his 31st birthday – Andry left with the hope of one day opening a beauty salon in the US, or making a living from one of his other passions: design and tailoring. But all that hope has turned to anguish. The Venezuelan makeup artist made it to the US, but his journey became 'tragic,' his mother, Alexis Romero, told CNN. Andry is one of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who were deported by the US government to El Salvador in March. His loved ones have had no news of him; they are completely out of touch. As of now, there is no certainty about what will happen to him or the rest of the detainees in the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) prison. 'Please bring him back, it's been two months of anguish. We can't take it anymore. Please, put your hand on your heart and send him back. This anguish is eating us alive … I hope these people say, 'Yes, he's coming back.' That they say something, anything, just a little thing,' pleads Alexis, 65. Andry Hernández Romero turned 32 this Wednesday. He is from Capacho Nuevo, a town in the Venezuelan border state of Táchira that, according to official estimates, has fewer than 30,000 inhabitants. He is passionate about design, makeup, costume making, and acting. These artistic skills have made him well known in his hometown, where he has been an essential part of a local festival. Since he was 7, Hernández has participated as an actor in the 'Reyes Magos de Capacho' festival, which a few months ago celebrated its 108th anniversary and is a keystone cultural event in both Táchira and all of Venezuela. 'We're from a small town, but we all know each other,' Reina Cárdenas, 36, and a childhood friend of Hernández, told CNN. 'We became very good friends since we were little kids. He loved to do my makeup, loved to get me ready for the show. We shared many things, many interests. Besides the Reyes Magos festival, we'd go out to eat, we were confidants, we have a very nice friendship.' In his teens and adult life, Hernández continued acting in the festival and also started making costumes and doing makeup for cast members. He studied Industrial Engineering up to the fifth semester at the Santiago Mariño Polytechnic in San Cristóbal, a private university in Táchira. Tuition increased every month, so 'the work bug bit him' and he decided to drop out to focus on his career, his mother says. Up until then, he had spent his whole life in Capacho, except for some trips to Bogotá, Colombia, and Caracas for work. And then came his trip to the US to seek asylum and grow professionally, a trip from which he has not yet returned. Hernández has been far from home and out of contact for months in El Salvador's Cecot after being deported by the US government for alleged links to the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua, accusations his loved ones deny. Andry Hernández Romero arrived in the US on August 29, 2024, specifically at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico, after leaving Venezuela a year earlier, according to Alexis Romero and Reina Cárdenas. 'He showed up for his CBP One appointment on August 29 and from that moment he was detained in a migration center' in the US, says Cárdenas. The CBP One app, which was crucial for hundreds of thousands of immigrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry, was canceled last January by the Trump administration, which also canceled already scheduled appointments. Reina says that, from the moment he arrived – still during the Biden administration – Andry was linked to the Tren de Aragua because of his tattoos: a crown on each wrist and a snake on his forearm. His is not the only case in which US authorities have associated these tattoos with the Venezuelan criminal gang. When that happened, 'we started sending all the evidence they asked for' to prove otherwise and so Andry could continue his asylum application, adds his childhood friend. 'They had nothing against him, no evidence,' says Reina Cárdenas. 'We submitted everything they requested at the time for the investigation they were conducting, because from the moment he entered the country they linked him to the Tren de Aragua and it was only because of the tattoos. They had no other reason, never submitted any evidence, just the tattoos.' Despite the circumstances, Cárdenas says Andry's case was progressing favorably, according to their conversations with him while he was detained and with his legal defense. 'His asylum process, up to the last we saw, was favorable,' Reina says. 'He passed the credible fear test. Everything was going very well. There were times when he wanted to be deported because of the time he'd spent locked up, and the lawyers and the judge handling his asylum told him his case was going well and to be patient, that he'd be admitted at any moment.' While Hernández's immigration case was ongoing, Trump's second term began, along with a massive government campaign against illegal immigration. Last March, after more than half a year detained since arriving at San Ysidro, the young man was deported to El Salvador. Andry Hernández is one of hundreds of migrants who in mid-March were deported to Cecot – the mega-prison built by El Salvador to incarcerate 'the worst of the worst,' according to the country's president, Nayib Bukele – under the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime policy invoked by the Trump administration to expel alleged members of the Tren de Aragua. The US government moved quickly to send hundreds of migrants, including Venezuelans, on flights to El Salvador, where they remain to this day, completely out of reach. The 32-year-old Venezuelan migrant is part of a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration. The suit argues that invoking the Alien Enemies Act is illegal and violates the constitutional due process rights of the immigrants involved. 'That invocation is patently unlawful: It violates the statutory terms of the (Alien Enemies Act); unlawfully bypasses the (Immigration and Naturalization Act); and infringes on noncitizens' constitutional right to Due Process under the Fifth Amendment,' the lawsuit states. Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) handling the case, said the goal is for both Andry Hernández and the other Venezuelans in Cecot to have a fair process in the US. 'We filed this lawsuit because we know there are more than a hundred Venezuelans who were illegally sent to a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having the chance to defend themselves. Our goal is to get all of them back to the US so they can have fair hearings,' Gelernt said in a statement sent to CNN by email. The ACLU attorney also says they have not been able to communicate with any migrants in Cecot, so Andry Hernández and the other detainees have been unable to contact their families and loved ones for more than two months. In May, the US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump's government resuming deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. The decision was a significant defeat for the president, who wants to use the law to speed up deportations and avoid the usual required reviews. However, it is a temporary measure, and the legal battle over the president's invocation has continued in various courts. Federal courts in Texas, Nevada, Colorado, and other states have issued orders blocking the use of the law, at least in the short term, while judges consider a series of lawsuits filed by targeted immigrants. Several courts have also issued more permanent orders, and a Trump-appointed judge in southern Texas ruled on May 2 that the president had illegally invoked the Alien Enemies Act. The family of this Venezuelan say the tattoos that led to him being labeled a member of the Tren de Aragua have nothing to do with a gang and, rather, refer to the traditional Reyes Magos festival in his town. The crowns on his wrists are related to the Reyes Magos and are accompanied by the names of his mother and father, while the snake on his forearm refers to one of the roles he has played in the festival, says Reina Cárdenas. CNN asked the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about Andry's case and, without mentioning him directly, the agency said its intelligence assessments go beyond tattoos and social media reviews, without giving further details. 'DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media,' a senior DHS spokesperson told CNN in a statement sent by email. 'Tren De Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth. They rape, maim, and murder for sport. President Trump and Secretary (of Homeland Security) Kristi Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens. We are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence. We aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane.' Cárdenas and Romero say that Andry's social media also does not prove the allegations that he is a member of the Tren de Aragua. On his Instagram profile, whose first post dates to 2015, there are hundreds of photos of his work as a makeup artist and costume designer. Both shared multiple documents with CNN to prove Andry's innocence. Among them are a certificate of good conduct from the mayor of Nuevo Capacho, a certification stating he has no criminal record, and a petition from the Reyes Magos Foundation of Capacho – which organizes the festival and has watched Andry grow up – and the community at large to corroborate that Andry is 'a hardworking citizen from a good family with no criminal record, innocent and unjustly detained in El Salvador.' This petition has been signed by around 600 people. His friend and mother say the young man chose to seek asylum in the US because of problems he had while working as a makeup artist at a Venezuelan government-affiliated TV network. They say he suffered harassment for being openly gay and had difficulties for political reasons. In a statement that is part of the evidence in the class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration, Alexis stated that her son 'was persecuted both for his sexual orientation and for his refusal to promote government propaganda' while working as a makeup artist at the TV network in Caracas. CNN asked the Venezuelan government about this accusation but has not received a response. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has previously spoken about the case of Venezuelans detained in El Salvador, calling the situation a kidnapping. 'I swear to you that we will rescue the 253 Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador, in concentration camps, as seen today,' Maduro said earlier this month during an event after the first video of the detainees at CECOT was released. 'Let's demand that those young people who are kidnapped without trial, without the right to (appear before) a judge, without the right to defense, without having committed any crime, be released immediately. And we are ready to go get them on a Venezuelan plane and bring them back to their families,' the South American leader added. In March, El Salvador agreed with the US to admit up to 300 immigrants sent by the Trump administration to be detained at Cecot after the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, an unprecedented move. El Salvador would receive about $6 million from the US for taking in detainees at that prison, according to a renewable agreement between the two governments. In April, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele proposed to Maduro the exchange of people deported to his country and imprisoned in exchange for what he considers 'political prisoners' of the Venezuelan government. Maduro responded by demanding that lawyers and family members be allowed access. Meanwhile, in the US, pressure continues for the release of Hernández and all detainees at Cecot. Margaret Cargioli, attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center and legal adviser to Andry Hernández, said in early May that 'due process matters' and that they will not stop until everyone is brought back to the US. For his part, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Democratic state senator from New York, commented that what Andry and the other detainees are going through goes against American values. 'It is un-American to deport residents of this country without any kind of due process, and even more so to subject them to the conditions of a foreign prison without oversight or safety guarantees. Yet that is exactly what happened to Andry Hernández Romero, and hundreds of others, who were sent to the notoriously dangerous Cecot prison in El Salvador,' Hoylman-Sigal said at the event. 'Mr. Hernández Romero came to this country, as people have since its founding, in search of a better life after being persecuted for his sexuality in his home country, Venezuela. Today, New Yorkers gather to show our support for Mr. Hernández Romero, demand that he and all those unjustly deported by the Trump administration be brought home immediately, and call on New York City and the United States as a whole to remain the welcoming refuge for those in need that it once was,' he added.
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
He left Venezuela as an asylum seeker, dreaming of a career in cosmetics in the US. He was deported to a Salvadoran prison
A year ago, Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela to seek a better future in the United States. He wanted to continue growing his career as a makeup artist. He left behind his lifelong home in the little town of Capacho Nuevo, where he lived with his mother, father, and younger brother. On May 23, 2024 – just two days after his 31st birthday – Andry left with the hope of one day opening a beauty salon in the US, or making a living from one of his other passions: design and tailoring. But all that hope has turned to anguish. The Venezuelan makeup artist made it to the US, but his journey became 'tragic,' his mother, Alexis Romero, told CNN. Andry is one of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who were deported by the US government to El Salvador in March. His loved ones have had no news of him; they are completely out of touch. As of now, there is no certainty about what will happen to him or the rest of the detainees in the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) prison. 'Please bring him back, it's been two months of anguish. We can't take it anymore. Please, put your hand on your heart and send him back. This anguish is eating us alive … I hope these people say, 'Yes, he's coming back.' That they say something, anything, just a little thing,' pleads Alexis, 65. Andry Hernández Romero turned 32 this Wednesday. He is from Capacho Nuevo, a town in the Venezuelan border state of Táchira that, according to official estimates, has fewer than 30,000 inhabitants. He is passionate about design, makeup, costume making, and acting. These artistic skills have made him well known in his hometown, where he has been an essential part of a local festival. Since he was 7, Hernández has participated as an actor in the 'Reyes Magos de Capacho' festival, which a few months ago celebrated its 108th anniversary and is a keystone cultural event in both Táchira and all of Venezuela. 'We're from a small town, but we all know each other,' Reina Cárdenas, 36, and a childhood friend of Hernández, told CNN. 'We became very good friends since we were little kids. He loved to do my makeup, loved to get me ready for the show. We shared many things, many interests. Besides the Reyes Magos festival, we'd go out to eat, we were confidants, we have a very nice friendship.' In his teens and adult life, Hernández continued acting in the festival and also started making costumes and doing makeup for cast members. He studied Industrial Engineering up to the fifth semester at the Santiago Mariño Polytechnic in San Cristóbal, a private university in Táchira. Tuition increased every month, so 'the work bug bit him' and he decided to drop out to focus on his career, his mother says. Up until then, he had spent his whole life in Capacho, except for some trips to Bogotá, Colombia, and Caracas for work. And then came his trip to the US to seek asylum and grow professionally, a trip from which he has not yet returned. Hernández has been far from home and out of contact for months in El Salvador's Cecot after being deported by the US government for alleged links to the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua, accusations his loved ones deny. Andry Hernández Romero arrived in the US on August 29, 2024, specifically at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico, after leaving Venezuela a year earlier, according to Alexis Romero and Reina Cárdenas. 'He showed up for his CBP One appointment on August 29 and from that moment he was detained in a migration center' in the US, says Cárdenas. The CBP One app, which was crucial for hundreds of thousands of immigrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry, was canceled last January by the Trump administration, which also canceled already scheduled appointments. Reina says that, from the moment he arrived – still during the Biden administration – Andry was linked to the Tren de Aragua because of his tattoos: a crown on each wrist and a snake on his forearm. His is not the only case in which US authorities have associated these tattoos with the Venezuelan criminal gang. When that happened, 'we started sending all the evidence they asked for' to prove otherwise and so Andry could continue his asylum application, adds his childhood friend. 'They had nothing against him, no evidence,' says Reina Cárdenas. 'We submitted everything they requested at the time for the investigation they were conducting, because from the moment he entered the country they linked him to the Tren de Aragua and it was only because of the tattoos. They had no other reason, never submitted any evidence, just the tattoos.' Despite the circumstances, Cárdenas says Andry's case was progressing favorably, according to their conversations with him while he was detained and with his legal defense. 'His asylum process, up to the last we saw, was favorable,' Reina says. 'He passed the credible fear test. Everything was going very well. There were times when he wanted to be deported because of the time he'd spent locked up, and the lawyers and the judge handling his asylum told him his case was going well and to be patient, that he'd be admitted at any moment.' While Hernández's immigration case was ongoing, Trump's second term began, along with a massive government campaign against illegal immigration. Last March, after more than half a year detained since arriving at San Ysidro, the young man was deported to El Salvador. Andry Hernández is one of hundreds of migrants who in mid-March were deported to Cecot – the mega-prison built by El Salvador to incarcerate 'the worst of the worst,' according to the country's president, Nayib Bukele – under the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime policy invoked by the Trump administration to expel alleged members of the Tren de Aragua. The US government moved quickly to send hundreds of migrants, including Venezuelans, on flights to El Salvador, where they remain to this day, completely out of reach. The 32-year-old Venezuelan migrant is part of a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration. The suit argues that invoking the Alien Enemies Act is illegal and violates the constitutional due process rights of the immigrants involved. 'That invocation is patently unlawful: It violates the statutory terms of the (Alien Enemies Act); unlawfully bypasses the (Immigration and Naturalization Act); and infringes on noncitizens' constitutional right to Due Process under the Fifth Amendment,' the lawsuit states. Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) handling the case, said the goal is for both Andry Hernández and the other Venezuelans in Cecot to have a fair process in the US. 'We filed this lawsuit because we know there are more than a hundred Venezuelans who were illegally sent to a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having the chance to defend themselves. Our goal is to get all of them back to the US so they can have fair hearings,' Gelernt said in a statement sent to CNN by email. The ACLU attorney also says they have not been able to communicate with any migrants in Cecot, so Andry Hernández and the other detainees have been unable to contact their families and loved ones for more than two months. In May, the US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump's government resuming deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. The decision was a significant defeat for the president, who wants to use the law to speed up deportations and avoid the usual required reviews. However, it is a temporary measure, and the legal battle over the president's invocation has continued in various courts. Federal courts in Texas, Nevada, Colorado, and other states have issued orders blocking the use of the law, at least in the short term, while judges consider a series of lawsuits filed by targeted immigrants. Several courts have also issued more permanent orders, and a Trump-appointed judge in southern Texas ruled on May 2 that the president had illegally invoked the Alien Enemies Act. The family of this Venezuelan say the tattoos that led to him being labeled a member of the Tren de Aragua have nothing to do with a gang and, rather, refer to the traditional Reyes Magos festival in his town. The crowns on his wrists are related to the Reyes Magos and are accompanied by the names of his mother and father, while the snake on his forearm refers to one of the roles he has played in the festival, says Reina Cárdenas. CNN asked the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about Andry's case and, without mentioning him directly, the agency said its intelligence assessments go beyond tattoos and social media reviews, without giving further details. 'DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media,' a senior DHS spokesperson told CNN in a statement sent by email. 'Tren De Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth. They rape, maim, and murder for sport. President Trump and Secretary (of Homeland Security) Kristi Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens. We are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence. We aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane.' Cárdenas and Romero say that Andry's social media also does not prove the allegations that he is a member of the Tren de Aragua. On his Instagram profile, whose first post dates to 2015, there are hundreds of photos of his work as a makeup artist and costume designer. Both shared multiple documents with CNN to prove Andry's innocence. Among them are a certificate of good conduct from the mayor of Nuevo Capacho, a certification stating he has no criminal record, and a petition from the Reyes Magos Foundation of Capacho – which organizes the festival and has watched Andry grow up – and the community at large to corroborate that Andry is 'a hardworking citizen from a good family with no criminal record, innocent and unjustly detained in El Salvador.' This petition has been signed by around 600 people. His friend and mother say the young man chose to seek asylum in the US because of problems he had while working as a makeup artist at a Venezuelan government-affiliated TV network. They say he suffered harassment for being openly gay and had difficulties for political reasons. In a statement that is part of the evidence in the class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration, Alexis stated that her son 'was persecuted both for his sexual orientation and for his refusal to promote government propaganda' while working as a makeup artist at the TV network in Caracas. CNN asked the Venezuelan government about this accusation but has not received a response. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has previously spoken about the case of Venezuelans detained in El Salvador, calling the situation a kidnapping. 'I swear to you that we will rescue the 253 Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador, in concentration camps, as seen today,' Maduro said earlier this month during an event after the first video of the detainees at CECOT was released. 'Let's demand that those young people who are kidnapped without trial, without the right to (appear before) a judge, without the right to defense, without having committed any crime, be released immediately. And we are ready to go get them on a Venezuelan plane and bring them back to their families,' the South American leader added. In March, El Salvador agreed with the US to admit up to 300 immigrants sent by the Trump administration to be detained at Cecot after the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, an unprecedented move. El Salvador would receive about $6 million from the US for taking in detainees at that prison, according to a renewable agreement between the two governments. In April, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele proposed to Maduro the exchange of people deported to his country and imprisoned in exchange for what he considers 'political prisoners' of the Venezuelan government. Maduro responded by demanding that lawyers and family members be allowed access. Meanwhile, in the US, pressure continues for the release of Hernández and all detainees at Cecot. Margaret Cargioli, attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center and legal adviser to Andry Hernández, said in early May that 'due process matters' and that they will not stop until everyone is brought back to the US. For his part, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Democratic state senator from New York, commented that what Andry and the other detainees are going through goes against American values. 'It is un-American to deport residents of this country without any kind of due process, and even more so to subject them to the conditions of a foreign prison without oversight or safety guarantees. Yet that is exactly what happened to Andry Hernández Romero, and hundreds of others, who were sent to the notoriously dangerous Cecot prison in El Salvador,' Hoylman-Sigal said at the event. 'Mr. Hernández Romero came to this country, as people have since its founding, in search of a better life after being persecuted for his sexuality in his home country, Venezuela. Today, New Yorkers gather to show our support for Mr. Hernández Romero, demand that he and all those unjustly deported by the Trump administration be brought home immediately, and call on New York City and the United States as a whole to remain the welcoming refuge for those in need that it once was,' he added.
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
He left Venezuela as an asylum seeker, dreaming of a career in cosmetics in the US. He was deported to a Salvadoran prison
A year ago, Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela to seek a better future in the United States. He wanted to continue growing his career as a makeup artist. He left behind his lifelong home in the little town of Capacho Nuevo, where he lived with his mother, father, and younger brother. On May 23, 2024 – just two days after his 31st birthday – Andry left with the hope of one day opening a beauty salon in the US, or making a living from one of his other passions: design and tailoring. But all that hope has turned to anguish. The Venezuelan makeup artist made it to the US, but his journey became 'tragic,' his mother, Alexis Romero, told CNN. Andry is one of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who were deported by the US government to El Salvador in March. His loved ones have had no news of him; they are completely out of touch. As of now, there is no certainty about what will happen to him or the rest of the detainees in the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) prison. 'Please bring him back, it's been two months of anguish. We can't take it anymore. Please, put your hand on your heart and send him back. This anguish is eating us alive … I hope these people say, 'Yes, he's coming back.' That they say something, anything, just a little thing,' pleads Alexis, 65. Andry Hernández Romero turned 32 this Wednesday. He is from Capacho Nuevo, a town in the Venezuelan border state of Táchira that, according to official estimates, has fewer than 30,000 inhabitants. He is passionate about design, makeup, costume making, and acting. These artistic skills have made him well known in his hometown, where he has been an essential part of a local festival. Since he was 7, Hernández has participated as an actor in the 'Reyes Magos de Capacho' festival, which a few months ago celebrated its 108th anniversary and is a keystone cultural event in both Táchira and all of Venezuela. 'We're from a small town, but we all know each other,' Reina Cárdenas, 36, and a childhood friend of Hernández, told CNN. 'We became very good friends since we were little kids. He loved to do my makeup, loved to get me ready for the show. We shared many things, many interests. Besides the Reyes Magos festival, we'd go out to eat, we were confidants, we have a very nice friendship.' In his teens and adult life, Hernández continued acting in the festival and also started making costumes and doing makeup for cast members. He studied Industrial Engineering up to the fifth semester at the Santiago Mariño Polytechnic in San Cristóbal, a private university in Táchira. Tuition increased every month, so 'the work bug bit him' and he decided to drop out to focus on his career, his mother says. Up until then, he had spent his whole life in Capacho, except for some trips to Bogotá, Colombia, and Caracas for work. And then came his trip to the US to seek asylum and grow professionally, a trip from which he has not yet returned. Hernández has been far from home and out of contact for months in El Salvador's Cecot after being deported by the US government for alleged links to the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua, accusations his loved ones deny. Andry Hernández Romero arrived in the US on August 29, 2024, specifically at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico, after leaving Venezuela a year earlier, according to Alexis Romero and Reina Cárdenas. 'He showed up for his CBP One appointment on August 29 and from that moment he was detained in a migration center' in the US, says Cárdenas. The CBP One app, which was crucial for hundreds of thousands of immigrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry, was canceled last January by the Trump administration, which also canceled already scheduled appointments. Reina says that, from the moment he arrived – still during the Biden administration – Andry was linked to the Tren de Aragua because of his tattoos: a crown on each wrist and a snake on his forearm. His is not the only case in which US authorities have associated these tattoos with the Venezuelan criminal gang. When that happened, 'we started sending all the evidence they asked for' to prove otherwise and so Andry could continue his asylum application, adds his childhood friend. 'They had nothing against him, no evidence,' says Reina Cárdenas. 'We submitted everything they requested at the time for the investigation they were conducting, because from the moment he entered the country they linked him to the Tren de Aragua and it was only because of the tattoos. They had no other reason, never submitted any evidence, just the tattoos.' Despite the circumstances, Cárdenas says Andry's case was progressing favorably, according to their conversations with him while he was detained and with his legal defense. 'His asylum process, up to the last we saw, was favorable,' Reina says. 'He passed the credible fear test. Everything was going very well. There were times when he wanted to be deported because of the time he'd spent locked up, and the lawyers and the judge handling his asylum told him his case was going well and to be patient, that he'd be admitted at any moment.' While Hernández's immigration case was ongoing, Trump's second term began, along with a massive government campaign against illegal immigration. Last March, after more than half a year detained since arriving at San Ysidro, the young man was deported to El Salvador. Andry Hernández is one of hundreds of migrants who in mid-March were deported to Cecot – the mega-prison built by El Salvador to incarcerate 'the worst of the worst,' according to the country's president, Nayib Bukele – under the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime policy invoked by the Trump administration to expel alleged members of the Tren de Aragua. The US government moved quickly to send hundreds of migrants, including Venezuelans, on flights to El Salvador, where they remain to this day, completely out of reach. The 32-year-old Venezuelan migrant is part of a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration. The suit argues that invoking the Alien Enemies Act is illegal and violates the constitutional due process rights of the immigrants involved. 'That invocation is patently unlawful: It violates the statutory terms of the (Alien Enemies Act); unlawfully bypasses the (Immigration and Naturalization Act); and infringes on noncitizens' constitutional right to Due Process under the Fifth Amendment,' the lawsuit states. Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) handling the case, said the goal is for both Andry Hernández and the other Venezuelans in Cecot to have a fair process in the US. 'We filed this lawsuit because we know there are more than a hundred Venezuelans who were illegally sent to a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having the chance to defend themselves. Our goal is to get all of them back to the US so they can have fair hearings,' Gelernt said in a statement sent to CNN by email. The ACLU attorney also says they have not been able to communicate with any migrants in Cecot, so Andry Hernández and the other detainees have been unable to contact their families and loved ones for more than two months. In May, the US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump's government resuming deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. The decision was a significant defeat for the president, who wants to use the law to speed up deportations and avoid the usual required reviews. However, it is a temporary measure, and the legal battle over the president's invocation has continued in various courts. Federal courts in Texas, Nevada, Colorado, and other states have issued orders blocking the use of the law, at least in the short term, while judges consider a series of lawsuits filed by targeted immigrants. Several courts have also issued more permanent orders, and a Trump-appointed judge in southern Texas ruled on May 2 that the president had illegally invoked the Alien Enemies Act. The family of this Venezuelan say the tattoos that led to him being labeled a member of the Tren de Aragua have nothing to do with a gang and, rather, refer to the traditional Reyes Magos festival in his town. The crowns on his wrists are related to the Reyes Magos and are accompanied by the names of his mother and father, while the snake on his forearm refers to one of the roles he has played in the festival, says Reina Cárdenas. CNN asked the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about Andry's case and, without mentioning him directly, the agency said its intelligence assessments go beyond tattoos and social media reviews, without giving further details. 'DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media,' a senior DHS spokesperson told CNN in a statement sent by email. 'Tren De Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth. They rape, maim, and murder for sport. President Trump and Secretary (of Homeland Security) Kristi Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens. We are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence. We aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane.' Cárdenas and Romero say that Andry's social media also does not prove the allegations that he is a member of the Tren de Aragua. On his Instagram profile, whose first post dates to 2015, there are hundreds of photos of his work as a makeup artist and costume designer. Both shared multiple documents with CNN to prove Andry's innocence. Among them are a certificate of good conduct from the mayor of Nuevo Capacho, a certification stating he has no criminal record, and a petition from the Reyes Magos Foundation of Capacho – which organizes the festival and has watched Andry grow up – and the community at large to corroborate that Andry is 'a hardworking citizen from a good family with no criminal record, innocent and unjustly detained in El Salvador.' This petition has been signed by around 600 people. His friend and mother say the young man chose to seek asylum in the US because of problems he had while working as a makeup artist at a Venezuelan government-affiliated TV network. They say he suffered harassment for being openly gay and had difficulties for political reasons. In a statement that is part of the evidence in the class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration, Alexis stated that her son 'was persecuted both for his sexual orientation and for his refusal to promote government propaganda' while working as a makeup artist at the TV network in Caracas. CNN asked the Venezuelan government about this accusation but has not received a response. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has previously spoken about the case of Venezuelans detained in El Salvador, calling the situation a kidnapping. 'I swear to you that we will rescue the 253 Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador, in concentration camps, as seen today,' Maduro said earlier this month during an event after the first video of the detainees at CECOT was released. 'Let's demand that those young people who are kidnapped without trial, without the right to (appear before) a judge, without the right to defense, without having committed any crime, be released immediately. And we are ready to go get them on a Venezuelan plane and bring them back to their families,' the South American leader added. In March, El Salvador agreed with the US to admit up to 300 immigrants sent by the Trump administration to be detained at Cecot after the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, an unprecedented move. El Salvador would receive about $6 million from the US for taking in detainees at that prison, according to a renewable agreement between the two governments. In April, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele proposed to Maduro the exchange of people deported to his country and imprisoned in exchange for what he considers 'political prisoners' of the Venezuelan government. Maduro responded by demanding that lawyers and family members be allowed access. Meanwhile, in the US, pressure continues for the release of Hernández and all detainees at Cecot. Margaret Cargioli, attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center and legal adviser to Andry Hernández, said in early May that 'due process matters' and that they will not stop until everyone is brought back to the US. For his part, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Democratic state senator from New York, commented that what Andry and the other detainees are going through goes against American values. 'It is un-American to deport residents of this country without any kind of due process, and even more so to subject them to the conditions of a foreign prison without oversight or safety guarantees. Yet that is exactly what happened to Andry Hernández Romero, and hundreds of others, who were sent to the notoriously dangerous Cecot prison in El Salvador,' Hoylman-Sigal said at the event. 'Mr. Hernández Romero came to this country, as people have since its founding, in search of a better life after being persecuted for his sexuality in his home country, Venezuela. Today, New Yorkers gather to show our support for Mr. Hernández Romero, demand that he and all those unjustly deported by the Trump administration be brought home immediately, and call on New York City and the United States as a whole to remain the welcoming refuge for those in need that it once was,' he added.
BBC News
16-05-2025
- BBC News
Venezuelan deported from US using gang 'points system', lawyers say
When Andry Hernández got a pair of tattoos on his wrists with the words mom and dad, he thought they would look even more striking if he added something else to them, according to the tattoo artist, José Manuel Mora."What if you add some small crowns?" Mr Hernández is said to have asked the crown is the symbol of the Catholic annual Three Kings Day celebrations for which Mr Hernández's Venezuelan hometown, Capacho Nuevo, is years later, those crowns may have led to Mr Hernández being locked up in El Salvador's mega-prison. He and dozens of other Venezuelans alleged by US President Donald Trump to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang were deported to the Central American nation in March."If I had known that the crowns would take Andry to jail, I would never have tattooed them on his body", Mr Mora tells BBC Hernández left his hometown in Venezuela for the United States in May last year. Like many migrants, he began a long trip through the Darién jungle on the border between Colombia and Panama, on his journey to to court documents filed by his lawyers, obtained by BBC Mundo, the 31-year-old surrendered at the border, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, on 29 August after making an appointment with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency for asylum request claimed that he was a victim of persecution in Venezuela for his political beliefs and sexual orientation. What is Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump?BBC Verify: British man's tattoo wrongly linked to Venezuelan gang in US government document He was then taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and was sent to the Otay Mesa Detention Centre in San the centre, "he was flagged as a security risk for the sole reason of his tattoos", his lawyer wrote in a legal team says Mr Hernández's interrogation at the centre was carried out by an official from the private company CoreCivic - a company contracted by the government - not by Ice official Arturo Torres, acting as interviewer, used a score system to determine whether a detainee is part of a criminal has nine categories, each with its own score. According to the criteria, the detainees are considered gang members if they score 10 or more points, and they are considered suspects if they score nine or fewer Hernández was given five points for the tattoos on his wrists, which included two crowns, according to paperwork signed in December 2024 by officers from the interviewing officer wrote: "Detainee Hernández has a crown on each one of his wrist. The crown has been found to be an identifier for a Tren de Aragua gang member".The BBC has contacted CoreCivic for comment, but has not received a reply."So far, that form is the only government document linking Mr Hernández to the Tren de Aragua," Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Centre and part of the legal team representing the young Venezuelan, told BBC have not provided further information about Mr Hernández's case, or the charges faced by him or other Venezuelans recently deported to El Salvador. Scorecards for 'alien enemies' Lawyers defending migrants' cases do not know whether the particular score system that marked Mr Hernández as a suspected member of Tren de Aragua has been used during the assessment of other detainees. However, authorities have acknowledged that tattoos are one of the criteria used for identifying gang to court documents filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of Venezuelan deportees, there is second scoring guide which evaluates detainees on a 20-point form instructs agents on how to validate detainees as a member of Tren de Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act - a centuries-old law that has been invoked by Trump to detain and deport individuals considered enemies of the United scores of 10 points are given to detainees who have criminal or civil convictions, sentencing memorandums, or criminal complaints that identify them as members of Tren de scores are for those with tattoos denoting their membership or loyalty to the gang (four points) - or who have insignias, logos, notes, drawings, or clothing indicating loyalty to it (also four points).The lowest scores (two points) are assigned if the detainee, for instance, appears on social media displaying symbols or hand gestures related to the Mundo reached out to DHS and Ice to request information about the scoring system used in the two forms, but received no DHS has previously published a statement on its website, called 100 Days of Fighting Fake News, stating that its assessments go well beyond tattoos and social media."We are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence, and we aren't going to share intelligence reports", the document said. "We have a stringent law enforcement assessment in place that abides by due process under the US Constitution." What is the 1798 law that Trump used to deport migrants? Jason Stevens, special agent in charge of the El Paso Homeland Security Investigations Office, told BBC Mundo that according to the guidelines, officers used a variety of criteria to identify a gang said in addition to an individual's tattoos, officers look at criminal associations, monikers, social media activity and messages on representing deportees have included official government guidelines in their court cases, arguing that it is insufficient to identify a detainee as a member of Tren de Aragua based on photographs of researcher and journalist Ronna Rísquez, author of a book about Tren de Aragua, dismisses the idea that tattoos are a criterion that defines membership in this group."Equating the Tren de Aragua gang with Central American gangs in terms of tattoos is a mistake," she warned. "You don't have to have a tattoo to be a member of the Tren de Aragua gang." Transfer to notorious mega-prison Unaware that he was suspected of belonging to Tren de Aragua, Mr Hernández was expecting to appear in a US court for another asylum-related hearing that he hoped could eventually allow him to remain in the March 2025, he had spent nearly six months at the San Diego detention centre before being abruptly transferred to the Webb County Detention Centre in Laredo, Texas, while his asylum case was still was not the only person who would be transferred to that second 15 March, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected Tren de Aragua members, arguing that Venezuelan authorities had ceded control over their territories to transnational criminal being able to contest the charges, Mr Hernández was deported that day as part of a group of 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans, to El Salvador's notorious mega-prison, known as the Terrorist Confinement Centre (Cecot).Mr Hernández had a court date scheduled for his asylum request, but according to his lawyers, authorities at the Webb County Detention Centre would not allow him to attend via video then, no-one has heard from him. His parents had no information about him until they were told that someone had seen a photo of their son in a Salvadoran prison. Inside El Salvador's secretive mega-jailVenezuelans deported to mega-prison 'trapped in black hole' 'Crown tattoos were Andry's crime' Mr Hernández designed and hand-embroidered his own costumes for the annual religious festival of known as the Three Wise Men of Capacho, his family also designed the outfits for some of the girls for their own celebrations of the festival in his home state of Táchira, near the border with symbol that identifies the religious festival - which was officially declared part of Venezuela's national cultural heritage, and of which its residents are proud - is a golden he was 7 years old, Mr Hernández has participated in the festival representing various biblical characters."Andry is a makeup artist, a theatre actor, and we all love him very much", said Miguel Chacón, president of the Capacho Three Kings Foundation, which organises the 108-year-old event. "Some young people get tattoos of the kings' crowns like Andry did. That was his crime."Hundreds of people in Capacho Nuevo, a modest agricultural town, participated in a vigil at the end of March to demand Mr Hernández's release. Some of them wore of Mr Hernández's friends, Reina Cárdenas, maintained contact with him until a few days before his deportation. She showed BBC Mundo official documents indicating that the young man had no criminal record in Venezuela. Mr Hernández dreamed of opening a beauty salon and helping his parents financially, Ms Cárdenas said by phone from Capacho a better future, Mr Hernández left his hometown and lived in Bogotá for a year, where he worked as a makeup artist and as a hotel returned to Venezuela after receiving a job offer at a television channel in Caracas, where he was excited by the idea of doing makeup for presenters, models, and beauty queens, Ms Cárdenas said."He did not stay in the TV station for more than a year because he was discriminated against for his sexual orientation and because of his political beliefs," she noted. "He received threats."Mr Hernández decided to leave Caracas and return to his hometown. "He wasn't well, he didn't want to leave his house," his friend said. He remained there for five months until May 2024, when he decided to travel to the US through the Darién jungle, despite his mother urging him to stay. Today, Mr Hernández's mother, Alexis Romero de Hernández, can hardly bear the pain of not having him by her side. "I'm waiting for news of my son," she told BBC Mundo. "I want to know how he is. I wonder how they're treating him. If they gave him water. If they gave him food. Every day I think about him and ask God to bring him back to me."The last known image of Hernandez is a photo taken of him on the night of 15 March inside the Salvadoran mega-prison, when a American photojournalist Philip Holsinger documented the arrival of a group of alleged criminals for Time was when he took a photo of a young man saying "I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a barber", Mr Holsinger wrote in his man was chained and on his knees while the guards shaved his head. Mr Holsinger later learned that man was Mr Hernández."He was being slapped every time he would speak up… he started praying and calling out, literally crying for his mother," Holsinger told CBS. "Then he buried his face in his chained hands and cried as he was slapped again."Mr Hernández's case has caused a stir in the US, and mystery surrounds his whereabouts. California Governor Gavin Newsom has requested his return, while four US congressional representatives travelled to El Salvador and requested to be provided with proof of life for him. They did not get it.
