WASHINGTON (AP) — Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist from Venezuela who was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration and held in a notorious mega-prison, was among the scores of migrants sent back to Venezuela in a three-nation exchange Friday, a California congressman said.
Rep. Robert Garcia posted on social media Friday night: “We have been in touch with Andry Hernández Romero’s legal team and they have confirmed he is out of CECOT and back in Venezuela. We are grateful he is alive and are engaged with both the State Department and his team.”
Romero, a gay man, fled Venezuela last summer and sought asylum in the U.S. He used a U.S. Customs and Border Protection phone app to arrange an appointment at a U.S. border crossing in San Diego.
That’s where he was asked about his tattoos. U.S. immigration authorities use a series of “gang identifiers” to help them spot members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Romero, who is in his early 20s, has a crown tattooed on each wrist. One is next to the word “Mom.” The other next to “Dad.” The crowns, according to his lawyer, also pay homage to his hometown’s Christmastime “Three Kings” festival, and to his work in beauty pageants, where crowns are common.
Romero, who insisted he has no ties to Tren, was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and transferred to a California detention center. He was eventually flown to the Salvadoran mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
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