He Came for Asylum. Trump Sent Him to Hell

Andry Hernández Romero should be celebrating Pride — not surviving CECOT

It has been over 100 days since Venezuelan citizen Andry José Hernandez Romero was disappeared by the United States government.

March 15, 2025 Andry was denied due process, shackled and flown—along with 237 other Venezuelan men—to CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, which translates to "Terrorism Confinement Center"), a maximum-security torture prison in El Salvador built to hold the country’s most dangerous criminals. The men were accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members. The Trump administration made a $6 million deal with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to imprison them.

In one of the many executive orders issued on Inauguration Day, Trump labeled Tren de Aragua a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Then on March 15 he quietly invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and declared the U.S. was being invaded by Tren de Aragua. This proclamation, which has not been used since World War II, grants presidential power to detain and deport noncitizens.

After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked the Alien Enemies Act which resulted in the incarceration of 31,000 people with German, Italian, and Japanese ancestry. Thousands chose repatriation to their country of origin. (Nobody was shipped to a third country.) This paved the way for Executive Order 9066 allowing 120,000 Japanese people—many of them U.S. citizens— to be forcibly placed in internment camps across the country. In 1988 Congress issued a formal apology for these civil rights violations and awarded over 80,000 Japanese Americans $20,000 each in reparations.

Hours before Trump invoked the 1798 Act, the ACLU and Democracy Forward sued on behalf of five Venezuelan men in immigration detention. A hearing quickly convened and Judge Boasberg told government lawyer Drew Ensign,

“Inform your clients of this immediately, and that any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”

The judge’s order was ignored. The flights continued on to El Salvador.

Like most of the deported men, Andry has no criminal record in the United States or Venezuela. Defense lawyers and family members of others disappeared to CECOT believe the men were targeted because of their tattoos, although U.S. officials denied relying on “tattoos alone” to assume Tren de Aragua ties. Andry has the word “Mom” inked on one wrist and “Dad” on the other. He asked tattoo artist José Manuel Mora to add something to the tattoos to make them more interesting. Mora told BBC Mundo,

"If I had known that the crowns would take Andry to jail, I would never have tattooed them on his body.”

Mora suggested crowns because they are a symbol of the Catholic Three Kings Day celebrations for which Andry’s hometown of Capacho is famous. “Most Capacheros get crown tattoos, often adding the name of their father or mother. We’ve lots of people with these tattoos – it’s a tradition that began in 1917,” Miguel Chacón, the president of Capacho’s Three Kings Day foundation told The Guardian. When Andry was 7 years old, he participated in the festivities as a Mini Rey with a youth drama group. Over the years he continued acting in the celebration as well as helping out with makeup and costumes.

The gifted 31-year-old stylist, makeup artist and actor was verbally abused and physically attacked for his sexual orientation and political beliefs. He made the difficult decision to flee his beloved hometown in 2024. Fearing for his life, he risked the treacherous trek though the Darien Gap—a roadless jungle of snakes, rivers, mountains and mud--and made his way to San Diego, where he sought asylum.

Andry came to the USA to start a new life. Home of the free. Land of opportunity.

He had dreams of a makeup and hairstylist career here. He planned to create a foundation for homeless youth.

Andry should be celebrating Pride Month right now. Instead, he is in a black hole of unimaginable horrors. The last proof of life is a picture taken by photojournalist Philip Holsinger of Andry getting his head shaved upon arrival to CECOT. Holsinger heard Andry cry out, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay.” Andry was slapped whenever he spoke up. He wept for his mother, pressing his palms together in prayer.

Andry was thrown in a cell with the other 237 Venezuelans flown from the U.S. The men share 2 toilets and a cement washbasin in a corner of the cell, with no privacy. The only furniture in the cell are bunks of metal slabs where they sleep without mattresses, sheets, or pillows. The lights are on 24 hours. The prisoners are not allowed any contact with the outside world, not even lawyers or family.

Holsinger said that men imprisoned in CECOT are eerily silent. “It’s like a church,” he said. But Module 8, where Andry was imprisoned is boisterously loud with men declaring their innocence and yelling for “libertad.” In a video published by far-right One America News Network of Matt Gaetz touring CECOT, the men in Module 8 heartbreakingly are seen flashing the international hand signal for “help me,” palms out, tucking their thumbs and closing their fingers on top. Andry was not seen in that video.

June 23, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 allowing Trump to continue deporting immigrants to third countries under the Alien Enemies Act, but they first must be granted a court hearing. There was no mention of the men denied due process, trapped in CECOT.

This is the story of one innocent man. There are over 200 others who our country sent away, without due process, to a prison where—according to El Salvador’s justice minister—the only way out is in a coffin. And now the Supreme Court has opened the door for more people to disappear. This includes 8 men of varying ethnic origins that the U.S. government wants to send to South Sudan, a country with political turmoil, increasing violence and food insecurity. This disregard for the Constitution and civil rights must stop. It is now up to We the People to STAND UP, FIGHT BACK!

What can you do?

• Visit https://www.freeandry.org/take-action for ways to help!

• Donate to Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

• Go to 5calls.org and easily contact your representatives in Congress, aided by this sample script.

• Join 50501 in the fight against this fascist regime. We need your voice, your energy, your talents. Together we will win!