Andry José Hernández Romero, a Venezuelan makeup artist who was deported from the United States to El Salvador's notorious Cecot prison under the Trump administration, has moved to Spain to seek asylum. In his first interview since leaving for Europe, Hernández told the Guardian that he felt unsafe in Venezuela and did not trust US authorities enough to return and fight his legal case.
The 33-year-old hairstylist and makeup artist left Venezuela for Spain in early February and is due for his first asylum hearing in court in a few days. He hopes that Spain's liberal immigration policies will offer him kinder treatment than he experienced in the US or his home country.
Hernández originally came to the US from western Venezuela to escape persecution as a gay man and the risks of opposing the government of then-president Nicolás Maduro. Speaking via video call from southern Spain, he is still recovering from the trauma but expressed optimism about his new surroundings. "I can say I feel safe here. This is a place where I can be reborn, heal my mental health, let people know about my abilities as a makeup artist, and find the happiness they took away from me more than a year ago," he said.
Hernández gained global attention last year when he and 252 other Venezuelan migrants were abruptly deported from the US without due process and flown to the brutal mega-prison in El Salvador known as Cecot. Images of the group being roughed up and having their heads shaved flashed around the world, symbolizing Trump's harsh anti-immigration agenda. They were held incommunicado for months under allegations of ties to a Venezuelan gang, which Hernández and others vehemently denied.
International human rights groups documented psychological and physical abuse, including sexual violence, before the detainees were suddenly released in a prisoner swap last summer and returned home. Hernández initially promised his family he would never leave Venezuela again, but after a few weeks, he began fearing for his life when officials from the vice-president's office came to his home. He refused a job offer from the office and hid during a subsequent visit.
When Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as acting president of Venezuela following Maduro's capture by the US military, Hernández decided to leave for Spain. He has relatives there, and Venezuelans do not require a visa to enter Spain, while those fleeing persecution can request asylum. "I have heard that Spain is a country with open policies towards immigrants and the LGBTQ+ communities," he said.
In March 2025, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to order the expulsion of Hernández and 136 other men to Cecot. Hernández was accused of being a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but he has denied the charge throughout his ordeal and has no criminal record. His attorney, Lindsay Toczylowski of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said that in nearly two decades of helping asylum seekers, she had never seen a situation where it was unsafe for a client to seek protection in the US.
A US federal judge ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of the deported men, but a court of appeals blocked the judge from investigating whether the administration knowingly defied his order. Toczylowski noted that there are no immediate options for Hernández to clear his name in US courts.
In Spain, Hernández awaits his first asylum interview scheduled for the end of the month. Spain has defied harsh immigration policies embraced elsewhere, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announcing plans to grant legal status to roughly 500,000 migrant workers, mostly from Latin America. Venezuelans made up the highest number of requests for international protection in Spain in 2025, with over 25,000 seeking asylum up to April this year.
Hernández said he is still marked by the trauma from Cecot, such as when someone taps him on the shoulder, his mind jumps back to the prison. He still wants to clear his name but doesn't know how. Remarkably, he said, "I don't hold a grudge against the US. I can't judge an entire country based on the actions of a group of people like Donald Trump or Kristi Noem, but entering the US at this time doesn't guarantee I will keep my freedom, and that is why I will continue to fight my case from Spain. Recovering my happiness will only be possible at the right place with the right people."
