U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) is demanding solutions from the Trump-Vance administration on its deportation of Andry Hernández Romero, a homosexual Venezuelan make-up artist who was despatched to a jail in El Salvador in violation of a federal court docket order and within the absence of credible proof supporting the federal government’s claims about his affiliation with a legal gang.
Copies of letters the congressman issued on Thursday to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CoreCivic, a personal jail contractor, have been shared completely with the Washington Blade.
Garcia famous that Hernández, who sought asylum from persecution in Venezuela over his sexual orientation and political opinions, had entered the U.S. legally, handed a preliminary screening, and had no legal document.
Professional-bono legal professionals representing Hernández throughout his detention within the U.S. pending an final result in his asylum case have been knowledgeable that their shopper had been eliminated to El Salvador per week after he failed to point out for a listening to on March 13.
Hernández’s household now fears for his security whereas he stays in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Middle (CECOT), which has a nicely documented document of human rights abuses, Garcia mentioned.
Moreover, the congressman wrote, whereas specialists say Tren de Aragua doesn’t use tattoos as identifiers, the “main proof” supporting Hernández’s deportation based mostly on his supposed hyperlinks to the transnational Venezuelan gang “seems to have been two crown tattoos labeled ‘Mother’ and ‘Dad,’ that are widespread cultural symbols in his hometown.”
The willpower about his hyperlinks to or membership within the group was made by a CoreCivic worker whose legal document and misconduct as a regulation enforcement officer led to his termination from the Milwaukee Police Division, Garcia wrote in his letter to the corporate.
Requesting a response by Could 1, the congressman requested CoreCivic President Damon T. Hininger to deal with the next questions:
- What {qualifications} and coaching does CoreCivic require for workers tasked with making determinations about detainees’ affiliations?
- What protocols are in place to make sure that determinations of gang affiliation are based mostly on credible and corroborated proof?
- How does CoreCivic oversee and evaluation the choices made by its workers in such vital issues?
- What mechanisms exist to forestall and deal with potential misconduct?
- What’s the nature of CoreCivic’s collaboration with ICE in making determinations that have an effect on deportation selections? Are there joint evaluation processes?
- What background checks and ongoing assessments are performed for workers concerned in detainee evaluations, notably these with prior regulation enforcement expertise?
- What tips does CoreCivic comply with concerning the usage of tattoos as indicators of gang affiliation, and the way does the corporate be sure that cultural or private tattoos are usually not misinterpreted?
In his letter to Tae D. Johnson, performing director of ICE, Garcia requested solutions to the next questions by Could 1:
- Did ICE personnel independently evaluation and approve the willpower made by CoreCivic worker Charles Cross Jr. figuring out Mr. Hernández Romero as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang?
- What proof, past Mr. Hernández Romero’s tattoos, was used to substantiate the declare of gang affiliation?
- Beneath what authorized authority are personal contractors like CoreCivic permitted to make determinations that instantly affect deportation selections?
- What vetting processes and background checks are in place for contractors concerned in such determinations? Are there oversight mechanisms to make sure their credibility and adherence to due course of?
- What tips does ICE comply with concerning the usage of tattoos as indicators of gang affiliation, and the way does the corporate be sure that cultural or private tattoos are usually not misinterpreted?
Along with U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Garcia wrote to U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Tuesday requesting permission to deliver a congressional delegation to CECOT for functions of conducting a welfare verify on detainees, expressing particular concern for Hernández’s wellbeing. The congressmen mentioned they might “gladly embody any Republican Members of the committee who want to take part.”
Hernández’s case has drawn fierce criticism of the Trump-Vance administration together with requires his return to the U.S.
Influential podcaster and Trump ally Joe Rogan spoke out in late March, calling the deportation “horrific” and “a horrible mistake.”
Final week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) despatched a letter to Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Homeland Safety, which manages ICE, demanding Hernández’s quick return and elevating considerations with the suitable to due course of amid the administration’s crackdown on unlawful immigration.
Hernández “was denied the chance to defend himself towards unsubstantiated allegations of gang involvement or to current his asylum declare,” the governor wrote. “We’re not a nation that sends individuals to be tortured and victimized in a overseas jail for public relations victories.”
Immigrant Defenders Regulation Middle President Lindsay Toczylowski, who’s representing Hernández, has not been capable of attain her shopper since his elimination from the U.S., she instructed NBC Information San Diego in a report revealed April 11.
“Beneath the Structure, each single individual has a proper to due course of, and meaning they’ve a proper to notification of any allegations the federal government is making towards them and a proper to enter court docket and show that these allegations are incorrect if that’s the case,” she mentioned. “In Andry’s case, the federal government by no means gave us that chance. In reality, they didn’t even deliver him to court docket, they usually have forcefully despatched him to El Salvador with out ever giving us any discover or with out telling us the best way that we may attraction their determination.”
“CECOT, this jail the place nobody has ever left, the place persons are held incommunicado, is a really harmful place for somebody like Andry,” Toczylowski mentioned.
In March, a DHS spokesperson posted on X that Hernández’s “personal social media signifies he’s a member of Tren de Aragua,” although they didn’t level to any particular posts and NBC reported that opinions of his recognized social media accounts turned up no proof of gang exercise.
Throughout a go to to CECOT in March, Time Journal photographer Philip Holsinger photographed Romero and reported that the detainee plead his innocence — “I’m not a gang member. I’m homosexual. I’m a stylist.” — crying for his mom as he was slapped and his head was shaved.
The submit EXCLUSIVE: Garcia calls for solutions on deportation of homosexual Venezuelan asylum seeker appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ Information, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Homosexual Information.
