From Venezuela to the USA: dream career in cosmetics, then deportation

Andry José Hernández Romero, a Venezuelan visagist on the run from persecution, was deported to the USA and is now sitting in a Salvadorian prison. A dramatic fate.

29. Mai 2025

WOM

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A year ago, Andry José Hernández Romero Venezuela to look for a better future in the United States. His goal was to further expand his career as a make-up artist. He left his life in the small town of Capacho Nuevo, where he lived with his mother, father and his younger brother.

On May 23, 2024, just two days after his 31st birthday, Andry set off with the hope of one day opening a beauty salon in the USA or living from one of his other passions: design and tailoring. But all this hope turned into fear and concern.

tragic turn on his journey

The Venezuelan Make-up artist reached the United States, but his journey took a "tragic" turn, his mother Alexis Romero told CNN. Andry is one of the hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador by the US government in March. Since then, his relatives have not received a message; Communication has completely broken off.

At the moment there is no security, which is done with him or the other detained in terrorism-female (cecot) . "Please bring him back, it has now passed two months full of fear. We can no longer endure it. Please put your hand on your heart and send him back. This fear eats us alive ... I hope you say: 'Yes, he comes back.' That you say something, even a little thing,” places Alexis, 65.

Who is Andry José Hernández Romero?

Andry Hernández Romero turned 32 on Wednesday. It comes from Capacho Nuevo, a city in the Venezuelan border state of Táchira, which, according to official estimates, has fewer than 30,000 inhabitants. His passion applies to design, make-up, costume construction and acting. These artistic skills have given him a high level of awareness in his hometown, where he plays an important role in a local festival.

Since he was 7 years old, Hernández has participated as an actor at the "Reyes Magos de Capacho" festival, which celebrated its 108th anniversary a few months ago and is a central cultural event in Táchira and Venezuela.

"We are from a small town, but we all know each other," says Reina Cárdenas, 36, a childhood friend of Hernández, opposite CNN. "We became very good friends from an early age. He loved doing my make-up and was happy to prepare me for the show. We had many common interests. In addition to the Reyes Magos Festival, we went to eat together, we were familiar and we have a very nice friendship."

his way to America

In his youth and adult life, Hernández continued his acting in the festival and began to make costumes and use make-up for the actors. He studied industrial engineering at the private university of Santiago Mariño Polytechnic in San Cristóbal until the fifth semester. Since the tuition fees rose every month, he was "aroused the urge to work" and he decided to cancel his studies in order to concentrate on his career, explains his mother.

Until then, he had spent his whole life in Capacho, apart from a few trips to Bogotá, Colombia, and Caracas for professional reasons. Then his trip to the United States came to search for asylum and develop professionally - a journey that he has not returned from.

a nightmar trip to the USA

Andry Hernández Romero arrived in the USA on August 29, 2024, more precisely at the San Ysidro border crossing to the Mexican border, after leaving Venezuela a year earlier, Alexis Romero and Reina Cárdenas report. "He appeared on his CBP One appointment on August 29 and was held in a refugee center in the USA from that moment," says Cárdenas.

The CBP One app, which was crucial for hundreds of thousands of migrants, to make appointments at the border crossings, was discontinued by the Trump government in January, which also annulled appointments. Reina says that Andry was associated with the Tren de Aragua from the moment of his arrival-even during the bid administration because he is tattooed: a crown on every wrist and a snake on his forearm. His case is not the only one in which the US authorities have associated these tattoos with the Venezuelan criminal gang.

The injustice of deportation

When that happened, we began to submit all the evidence they asked to prove the opposite and thus continue Andry's application for asylum, his childhood friend adds. "They had nothing against him, no evidence," says Reina Cárdenas. "We submitted everything they asked for the investigation at the time, because from the moment he entered the country, they linked him to the Tren de Aragua, and that was only because of the tattoos. There was no other reason, they never presented any evidence, only the tattoos."

Boy's asylum process seemed to have been positive up to his last stand, according to the conversations with him during his detention and with his legal defense. "As far as we could see, his asylum process was positive," says Reina. "He existed the

deportation under the alien enemies act

While Hernández ’immigration case was still pending, Trump's second term, accompanied by a large -scale campaign against illegal immigration, began. Last March, after more than half a year since his arrival in San Ysidro, the young man was deported to El Salvador. Andry Hernández is one of hundreds of migrants who were deported to Cecot in mid-March, the Mega prison, which was built by El Salvador for the worst of the badest, according to the President of the country, Nayib Bukele, under which Alien Enemies Act, a guideline activated in the war, which was used by the Trump government, for alleged members of the tren To show aragua.

The US government quickly acted to send hundreds of migrants, including Venezuelans, to El Salvador, where they remain to this day. The 32-year-old Venezuelan migrant is part of a class action against the Trump government. The lawsuit argues that the appeal on the Alien Enemies Act is illegal and violates the constitutional rights of a fair procedure for the migrants concerned.

tattoos with a different meaning

The family of this Venezoleer says that the tattoos, which led to it as a member of the Tren de Aragua, have nothing to do with a gear, but refer to the traditional Reyes Magos Festival in his city. The crowns on his wrists are related to the Reyes Magos and are provided with the names of his mother and father, while the snake on his forearm refers to one of his roles in the festival, explains Reina Cárdenas.

CNN asked the U.S. Ministry of Internal Security (DHS) questions about Andry's case and received the answer that the ministry's reviews go far beyond tattoos and social media without going further detail. "The assessments of the DHS go far beyond mere tattoos between gang members and social media," said a high-ranking DHS spokesman in a statement. "The Tren de Aragua is one of the most violent and unscrupulous terrorist gands on Earth. They rape, mutilate and murder for fun. President Trump and Minister (for internal security) Kristi Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize.

asylum procedure and support

His friend and mother report that the young man has decided to apply for asylum in the USA due to the problems he had as a make-up artist with a Venezolan, government-related television station. They report that he was molested due to his open homosexuality and had political difficulties. In an explanation that is part of the evidence in the class action against the Trump government, Alexis said that her son "was persecuted because of his sexual orientation and his refusal to promote government propaganda", while he was working as a make-up artist in Caracas.

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro previously spoke about the arrest of Venezuelans in El Salvador and described the situation as a kidnapping. He has promised to save the Venezuelans held in El Salvador. "I swear to you that we will save the 253 Venezuelans who were kidnapped in El Salvador," said Maduro during an event when the first video of the detained in the Cecot was released.

In March, El Salvador agreed with the United States to record up to 300 migrants sent by the Trump government to be held in the Cecot after activating the Alien Enemies Act. This agreement stipulates that El Salvador will receive about $ 6 million from the United States to accept the detainees in this prison. The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, suggested Maduro to exchange people deported to El Salvador against what he sees as a "political prisoner" of the Venezuelan government.

In the meantime, the pressure in the USA continues to released Hernández and all other detained in the Cecot. Margaret Cargioli, lawyer at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center and legal advisor to Andry Hernández, said at the beginning of May that "legal proceedings are important" and that they will not stop until everyone is brought back to the United States. "One of the worst forms of torture that is practiced in the CECOT is the isolation of people from their relatives: no visits, no contact, no communication," said Cargioli at a joint event of interests and politicians.

Brad Hylman-Sigal, democratic state senator from New York, commented that what Andry and the other detainees go through violated the American values. "It is un-American to deport residents of this country without any procedure and to expose them to the conditions of a foreign prison without supervision or security guarantees. This is exactly what Andry Hernández Romero and hundreds of others passed from others who were sent to the notorious Cecot prison in El Salvador," said Hoylman-Sigal at the event.

29. Mai 2025

WOM