Andry José Hernández Romero, deported in Trump’s immigration crackdown, was freed from El Salvador’s CECOT prison in a prisoner swap but still faces danger.
Gay asylum seeker Andry José Hernández Romero, a makeup artist and costume designer deported to El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) maximum-security prison, was released on July 18 as part of a prisoner swap, NBC News reported.
The swap was brokered by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, who agreed to free more than 200 Venezuelans from CECOT in exchange for Venezuela releasing 10 American political prisoners.
Most released detainees had been deported from the U.S. after Trump invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify removing hundreds of undocumented immigrants, alleging ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which constituted an “invading force” whose members were committing serious crimes.
As part of the deportation plan to bypass normal immigration procedures, Bukele agreed to use CECOT to detain foreign nationals removed from the U.S., including some asylum seekers.
Hernández Romero fled Venezuela last year to seek U.S. asylum, citing harassment and death threats over his sexual orientation and his opposition to the government’s human rights abuses.
He scheduled an asylum appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and presented himself at a legal port of entry. He was detained after passing a credible fear interview, a key step in seeking asylum. But after last year’s election, the Trump administration canceled all existing appointments and began deporting asylum seekers.
Officials justified deporting Hernández Romero by claiming he belonged to Tren de Aragua, citing his tattoos of a crown on each wrist and a snake on his forearm.
Family and friends of the gay makeup artist rejected the allegation, claiming the tattoos, which bear the names of his parents, are a reference to the traditional “Reyes Magos de Capacho” festival in his hometown of Nuevo Capacho, Venezuela, a cultural event in which Hernández Romero had participated since age 7.
Hernández Romero’s deportation, and the scant evidence of gang ties, drew intense criticism of the Trump administration’s policies. Civil rights and LGBTQ groups protested, and the Human Rights Campaign staged a demonstration at the Supreme Court during WorldPride weekend in Washington, D.C.
Despite pleas from human rights groups, members of Congress, and Hernández Romero’s family and lawyers, DHS and Secretary Kristi Noem refused to confirm he was alive or conduct a wellness check.
The Guardian reported that the former CECOT detainees were flown to Caracas on July 18. Some reunited with their families there, but they have not yet returned to their homes.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek Saab said July 21 that his office will investigate Bukele, El Salvador’s justice minister Gustavo Villatoro, and prisons chief Osiris Luna Meza for alleged abuses. Saab says he has videos of ex-detainees describing torture and showing injuries from their incarceration.
For asylum seekers like Hernández Romero, uncertainty remains over how the Venezuelan government will treat them and whether they might be imprisoned again.
“The news of Andry’s release brings both relief and anger,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “This country has long been a beacon of hope and a safe harbor for those yearning for freedom. But the Trump Administration is torching our values, using people like Andry as pawns in their quest for power.”
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In another swipe at the transgender community, the national monument honoring what is widely seen as the seminal event of the modern LGBTQ rights movement has erased all mention of transgender and queer people.
Each June, the Stonewall National Monument in New York City typically decorates the fence surrounding Christopher Park -- the small park adjacent to the historic Stonewall Inn and part of the official monument -- with various Pride flags.
In past years, the display has featured a mix of flags -- the familiar six-stripe rainbow Pride flag, the blue, pink, and white transgender Pride flag, and the "Progress" flag, which adds stripes for Black and brown communities and a chevron design incorporating transgender and intersex Pride colors.
Life is a cabaret at the titular bolero bar in GALA Hispanic Theatre's Botiquín de Boleros de Columbia Heights. Of course, for this lively, immersive staging, directed and choreographed by Valeria Cossu, we, the audience, are the patrons at the Columbia Heights Bolero Bar.
Seated at cabaret tables onstage, at stage level, or in regular seats throughout the house, audience members may find themselves in the midst of the action for Rubén Léon's heartfelt backstage musical revue, adapted by GALA artistic director Gustavo Ott.
Formerly a mainstay of D.C.'s diverse Columbia Heights neighborhood, the fictional boîte was "one of the hottest cabarets" in town, we're told. But due to the pandemic, it has sat dormant for years, until now -- now being November 2024, just ahead of a presidential election that will prove particularly pivotal for immigrants like some of the performers who call the club home.
The ruling in Tennessee’s gender-affirming care case could unravel key legal wins for transgender Americans as lower courts are told to take another look.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered lower federal courts to revisit pro-transgender rulings after siding with Tennessee in a 6-3 decision upholding the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
In its June 30 ruling, the Court found the law did not discriminate based on sex or transgender status -- and while it did not address other laws affecting transgender Americans, it opened the door for states to impose even broader restrictions on transgender rights and legal protections.
As reported by CNN, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett wrote in concurring opinions that courts should not be required to closely scrutinize laws alleged to discriminate against transgender people.
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