Andry Hernández Romero, the gay Venezuelan makeup artist who was wrongfully deported to a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison earlier this year by the Trump administration, has been released and sent back to his home country.
In a Friday, July 18, statement, Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) confirmed that Hernández Romero was one of more than 250 Venezuelan men who had been released from Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador and sent to Venezuela as part of a prisoner swap. The U.S. exchanged over 250 Venezuelan men the U.S. had sent to be imprisoned in El Salvador in exchange for the release of 10 U.S. citizens who had been imprisoned in Venezuela.
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According to the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), the Los Angeles-based law firm which represents Hernández Romero, the 32-year-old makeup artist was among more than 200 Venezuelan men that the Trump administration deported to CECOT in March. With little evidence other than their allegedly “gang-affiliated” tattoos, the Trump administration claimed that all the men were members of a Venezuelan gang which it had designated an “international terrorist organization.” This designation, the administration claimed, gave U.S. government officials special wartime powers under the Alien Enemies Act to deport them without due process.
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“We have been fighting to free Andry, our other clients, and all the men from CECOT for more than four months,” ImmDef executive director Lindsay Toczylowski said in a statement Friday. “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,” Toczylowski continued. “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.”
Fleeing anti-gay persecution in his home country, Hernández Romero, who has no criminal history, entered the U.S. legally last year. Prior to his deportation to El Salvador, he had been pursuing an asylum claim from a detention center in San Diego, California. In May, a judge dismissed his case.
On Saturday, out Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) posted a video message on X confirming that he had been in touch with Hernández Romero’s lawyers to try to make sure that he is safe while in Venezuela. Garcia is one of several congressional Democrats who have been advocating for Hernández Romero’s release or, at minimum, a wellness check to verify that he was still alive.
“We’re working with the State Department and other folks to get that done,” Garcia said last Saturday. “We’re on this case. We’ll do everything we can to protect him, make sure he has his due process rights.”
Garcia also reiterated criticism of the Trump administration for sending Hernández Romero to CECOT in the first place, and for refusing to verify that he was still alive.
We are so grateful Andry Hernández Romero is alive. He’s back in Venezuela and we are working to make sure he’s safe. He never should have been sent to the CECOT prison and he still deserves due process. We won’t stop fighting for him. pic.twitter.com/FZJEJZRIhR
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) July 19, 2025
Out Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) echoed Garcia’s criticism in his own statement.
“I’m deeply relieved that Andry has been released from CECOT, but he never should’ve been deported in the first place,” Torres told Advocate. “He fled Venezuela fearing persecution as a gay man, and sending him to one of the world’s most notorious prisons for no reason beyond profiling was a deeply cruel and dangerous decision by the Trump administration. He has every right to return to the United States and is owed an apology from the White House.”
Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson, meanwhile, said the news of Hernández Romero’s release brought both relief and anger.
“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,” Robinson said in a statement Saturday. “Andry will not have to lay his head down in a Salvadoran gulag tonight, and that is welcome news. But he should have never been subjected to unknown terrors in that prison, his due process rights continue to be denied, and we do not know what awaits him in the country he fled due to persecution for his sexual orientation.”
Robinson went on to blast the “reckless” Trump administration for “upending the rule of law and terrorizing the vulnerable to consolidate power.” She also reiterated concerns that the administration had brought the U.S. to the brink of a constitutional crisis with its refusal to comply with Judge James Boasberg’s March 15 order to return the flights carrying Hernández Romero and other deportees to El Salvador.
“The targeting of immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and basic civil liberties are not unrelated; they are a coordinated assault on liberty and justice,” Robinson said. “As LGBTQ+ Americans, many of whom identify as immigrants, we recognize this pattern and stand unwaveringly with Andry, immigrant communities – and all whose freedoms are under attack.”
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