The USA’s Secretary of Homeland Security has refused to find out if a gay hairdresser who was allegedly wrongfully deported to a harsh prison in El Salvador is still alive.
In 2025 the Trump Administration began detaining and deporting people undocumented immigrants who they believed to be association with criminal gangs. The administration deported 238 men to El Salvador.
Swept up in the process was Venezuelan man Andry Hernandez Romero who had applied for asylum in the USA. The gay makeup artist was sent to a harsh prison in El Salvador, but supporters says he’s been wrongly identified as a gang member.
Appearing in front of a Congressional Committee this week, Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, said she did not know the specifics of the case despite it being prominently featured in the media for several weeks.
Democrat representative Robert Garcia asked Noem if she would find out if the man was still alive, highlighting that his family were desperate for information.
Noem said that the case was no longer in her jurisdiction, and suggested questions should be put to the government of El Salvador.
It has been suggested that Hernandez Romero Romero had tattoos that indicated an affiliation to a criminal gang, but his supporters have argued that the tattoo’s relate to a festival from his homeland and are commonplace in the region.
Hernandez Romero left Venezuela in May 2024 because he was targeted for being gay and for his political views. He made the long trek north through dense forest between Colombia and Panama, to Mexico, where he eventually got an appointment to seek asylum in the United States. At a legal border crossing near San Diego, he was taken into custody while his case was processed.
Then he disappeared.
“Our client, who was in the middle of seeking asylum, just disappeared. One day he was there, and the next day we’re supposed to have court, and he wasn’t brought to court,” Lindsay Toczylowski, Hernandez Romero’s lawyer, told CBS News last month.
Confirmation that Hernandez Romero was in a terrorist prison in El Salvador came when TIME magazine photographer Philip Holsinger saw him at the facility.
He recalled seeing a young man who was saying, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist.” He described his as crying for his mother as he was slapped and forced to have his head shaved.
His photograph also captured the tattoos on his fingers that are reportedly the reason for his deportation. They have tattoos of crowns, that also have his parent’s names. US authorities have denied that he was deported solely for his tattoos saying his social media posts also showed links to the Tren de Aragua criminal network.
US government considers reality show where people battle for US citizenship
As protests over the administrations crack down on undocumented immigrants continue, the government has acknowledged they’re also considering a reality television show around gaining citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security have confirmed they’ve had discussions with TV producers about a show where people compete to win citizenship.
