Sacramento – California Governor Gavin Newsom sent a letter to internal security secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday, asking Andry José Hernández Romero, a Venezuelan immigrant who was expelled to a maximum security prison in Salvador last month in the United States for a judge to assess his case.
Hernández Romero, a 31 -year -old make -up artist who is legally asked for asylum because of the persecution for his sexuality and his opposition to the power party in Venezuela.
“Although he has no criminal record, he was refused to defend himself against non -founded allegations of gangs involvement or to submit his asylum request,” Newsom wrote to Noem.
The case drew national attention and criticism from the Trump administration to allegations according to which innocent immigrants who have entered legally were detained and expelled without regular procedure in a campaign which declared that the president was aimed at withdrawing the “terrorists” and the gang members of the country under the law on extraterrestrial enemies of 1798.
“We are not a nation that sends people to be tortured and victimized in a foreign prison for public relations victories,” Newsom wrote in Noem. “I urge you to reassess your policies and ensure regular procedure for everyone under the control of the American judicial system and police, including those wrongly sent to Salvador, as required by federal law.”
Hernández Romero appeared during a first meeting on the asylum in August at the Port of Entrance in San Ysidro. A border patrol agent alleged that his crown tattoos had proven affiliations with the Gang Tren of Aragua. He was detained in Otay Mesa for months before being expelled in Salvador with more than 250 other immigrants in March.
The lawyers and members of the family of Hernández Romero argued that he was innocent and not a member of a gang.
“I think, unfortunately, he ended up being caught in the government’s agenda to try to end the asylum, and I think he was probably an easy target for the fact that he had tattoos,” said Melissa Shepard, one of his lawyers with the Center de Law of Defenders Immigrant in Los Angeles.
His tattoos are a tribute to the arts, his family and his longtime participation in an annual celebration of the Three Kings Day and play in his hometown in Venezuela. “Maman” and “Dad” are tattooed under the crowns, said Shepard.
He has no criminal record in the United States or Venezuela, said Shepard. His legal team said he had a solid file for asylum, but they sail on “unexplored territory”.
“We have never had a client who disappeared in the middle of the procedures and did not offer his regular procedure to see his case of asylum,” said Shepard.
The Trump administration defended the expulsion of Hernández Romero. Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for Homeland Security, has allegedly allegedly allegedly in an article on the XS social media platform.
“This man’s own social media indicate that he is a member of Tren de Aragua,” said McLaughlin.
Joe Rogan, a leading podcastor and Trump’s supporter, described the “horrible” situation of his show. Rogan said it injured the president’s cause when “innocent gay hairdressers collapsed with the gangs”.
In his letter to Noem, Newsom said he had written to express his concerns that the expulsion of people without regular procedure is “a dangerous precedent who threatens to irreparably stain the reputation of the Ministry of Homeland Security and this country”.
“Mr. Hernández Romero should be sent immediately to the United States for an immigration judge to assess the advantages of his case,” said Newsom.
Newsom has said that California has “acquired interest” in the issue of immigration as a state that has prospered and prospered for almost 175 years due to communities of dynamic immigrants and the rule of law. ”
The governor went to Salvador in 2019 for a trip which, according to him, was intended to help him better understand the forces leading to immigration from the country of Central in the United States at the time, then President Trump had committed to reducing federal aid in Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras as a punishment for not slowing down migration.
Newsom met President Salvado outgoing Salvador Sánchez Cerrén during the trip and sat separately with successor Nayib Bukele.
As president, Bukele has become an ally in Trump’s efforts to expel immigrants during his second term. Bukele agreed to accept immigrants accused of being gang members during the mass deportation event in March.
Trump publicly thanked Bukele, who is expected to visit the White House on Monday to discuss their cooperation on deportations.
The centro terrorism prison of Confinamiento del to Salvador, where Hernández Romero is detained, is “notorious for human rights abuses,” said Shepard.
California Daily Newspapers
