By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Andry Hernandez Romero; CECOT
The gay makeup artist is headed back to Venezuela instead of the U.S., however.
Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist who sought asylum in the U.S. due to persecution in Venezuela but was deported to a prison in El Salvador, has been released as part of a prisoner swap — but he's being sent back to Venezuela instead of the U.S.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
"We have confirmed that he is in Venezuela," Immigrant Defenders Law Center President and CEO Lindsay Toczylowski told The Advocate. The organization is representing Hernández Romero in legal matters.
Under a prisoner swap facilitated by the Trump administration, 10 U.S. citizens who had been held in Venezuela were released and more than 250 Venezuelan men the U.S. had sent to be imprisoned in El Salvador — without due process — were sent back to Venezuela.
Hernández Romero entered the U.S. legally in 2024, fleeing anti-LGBTQ+ violence and political persecution. After passing a credible fear interview, he was deported after showing up for an appointment the U.S. government gave him. The Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, previously used to incarcerate Japanese Americans during World War II. Officials accused him of gang ties based on crown tattoos above the names of his parents, though his attorneys say he has no criminal record.
Since March, he and the other Venezuelan deportees have been held in a notorious prison known as CECOT. It has reputation as a site of torture, anti-LGBTQ+ violence, and inhumane conditions.
Hernández Romero is the lead plaintiff in a court case challenging the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, who is a gay immigrant, has been among those advocating for Hernández Romero's release. He posted this information on X:
Hernández Romero's family and his lawyers have been concerned he would die in the Salvadoran prison.
Photojournalist Philip Holsinger, who gained access to CECOT, told 60 Minutes Overtime he witnessed Romero saying, “I’m innocent” and “I’m gay,” and crying while guards shaved his head.
“He was being slapped every time he would speak up … he started praying and calling out, literally crying for his mother,” Holsinger told Overtime. “His crying out for his mother really, really touched me.”
Questions remain about Hernández Romero's asylum case, given the Trump administration's hostility to LGBTQ+ people. Journalist Karen Ocamb, in a recent Substack column, wondered if the government would recognize anti-LGBTQ+ persecution as a reason for granting asylum.
Cleve Jones, a longtime activist and a community organizer with the UNITE Here hospitality workers' union, has been drawn to Hernández Romero's case, which sits "at the intersection of immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, and due process under law," he says. UNITE Here, which has many members who are immigrants and many who are LGBTQ+, created "Free Andry" posters that marchers carried in about 35 Pride parades around the nation.
Jones told The Advocate he's "overjoyed" to hear Hernández Romero is alive and has been released. "There was something about this young man’s situation that got under my skin," he said.
'I was thinking about the possibility that he had not survived," Jones added. "To get that word from his lawyers was just a great gift."
Immigrant Defenders Law Center issued a statement celebrating the prisoners' release, decrying the government's deportation of the men, and calling for due process of law. “We have been fighting to free Andry, our other clients, and all the men from CECOT for more than four months," Toczylowski said in the statement. "We are incredibly relieved that it appears most of them have been freed from the torture prison the U.S. government sent them to, and potentially may be reunited with family soon. But as an American, and as a lawyer who believes deeply in the rule of law and due process, my heart remains heavy. What happened here is a dangerous travesty of justice. We have long known that the allegations that the men at CECOT were members of a dangerous gang were baseless. We know the Trump administration denied them due process and sent them to a prison notorious for abuse and torture. The Trump administration misled the public and our courts by claiming that the U.S. government was not in control of what happened to the men at CECOT, only to eventually — after 125 days -- orchestrate a prisoner swap using human beings as pawns. So, while we are grateful they will not spend another night being tortured in El Salvador, we also grieve the ongoing and lasting damage being done to our democracy by an administration that is willing to violate our Constitution, U.S. asylum laws, and international law. While the Trump administration escalates their use of authoritarian practices meant to intimidate people into submission, we will keep fighting for justice for immigrants and for the future of our country.”
Additional reporting by Christopher Wiggins.
