Trump admin "disappeared" a gay stylist for propaganda. He hasn't been heard from since

[marmar]

Trump admin “disappeared” a gay stylist for propaganda. He hasn’t been heard from since
Asylum-seeker Andry José Hernández Romero hasn't been heard from in 4 months despite never being accused of a crime

By Charles R. Davis
News Editor
Published July 16, 2025 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) He wept and prayed as the guard shaved his head, calling for his mother and proclaiming his innocence. Just a few months earlier, Andry José Hernández Romero had applied for asylum, citing the conditions he faced as a gay man and political dissident in Venezuela, a country that the U.S. government and its allies all deem to be an authoritarian, repressive threat to its own citizens. But now he was just a warm body to be paraded before the cameras — just content to be clicked or scrolled past on someone’s phone.

To his family, Andry was an actor, hair stylist and loving son, his dedication to mom and dad tattooed on his arms. To the Trump administration, he was an object that could be used in an ongoing, callous propaganda campaign, his brutalization serving as an advertisement for the president’s war on immigration. His very devotion to his family was used against him, his tattoos reinterpreted as evidence of loyalty to a gang, Tren de Aragua, that does not use tattoos to signify membership.

....(snip)....


Melissa Shepard, legal services director at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told Salon that her organization began representing Andry on a pro bono basis in December 2024. At the time he was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a privately-run prison along the U.S.-Mexico border. He had applied for asylum the right way — by scheduling an appointment and presenting himself at a port of entry — and yet was languishing behind bars. In March 2025, seemingly out of nowhere, it got so much worse.

“We say ‘disappeared’ — ‘disappeared to El Salvador,’ because that’s essentially what it is,” Shepard said in an interview. No one has spoken to Andry since March 14; not his family, not his legal team. In the four months since he was labeled a criminal and sentenced to de facto life in prison, without charge or trial or indeed anything approaching due process, the only evidence that he is in El Salvador are the images of him being abused the day that he arrived. The U.S. government has refused to release the names of the people it sent to CECOT, claiming they are now wards of El Salvador, even after it begrudgingly had Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. for a face-saving prosecution; in turn, El Salvador has insisted the 238 Venezuelans we know were sent to CECOT are indeed the responsibility of the Trump administration. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/16/trump-admin-disappeared-a-gay-stylist-for-propaganda-he-hasnt-been-heard-from-since/

[intheflow]

1. Thanks for posting. I was wondering what happened to him.

His disappearance has been haunting me.

[MineralMan]

2. This is all a test by the administration. They're testing whether they can

just disappear people and forget about them. That appears to be the goal. If they can, then you can expect to see more people from different situations just quietly disappearing - never to be heard from again.

It's a very dangerous experiment. I'm not sure how we can make sure it doesn't succeed.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. I think you've got it

[S/V Loner]

3. Unfortunately I suspect it would be difficult...

for him to survive that prison.

[barbtries]

5. If you're able you can help Andry.

https://www.freeandry.org/

At the 14Jun2025 protest in San Diego, I encountered 2 people who were there advocating for Andry. It's heartbreaking what this man has been put through. Even then they did now know whether he was still alive or not.

The silence about this man is deafening.

[wordstroken]

10. Thank you so much for that information, barbtries.

Such sickening news that Andy — and so many others — are being extremely mistreated by monsters.

We’ve got to make this end.
💔

🦋 wordstroken

[IronLionZion]

6. Feels like Soviet style purges where people were disappeared

with no info whatsoever for their family/friends. Just poof, vanished like Epstein files.

[angrychair]

7. We, as a country, are ok with this

Seriously, SCOTUS said it could continue. We gave a green light to send innocent people, without even the bare minimum of a due process hearing, to send people to places like South fucking Sudan.
We sent people that had served their time for their crimes, to a active warzone that has ongoing ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity.
We, as a nation, said that was "ok".

Wonder if we would feel the same if it was happening to white people?

Wonder if we would feel the same if other countries started doing the same thing to US citizens in their respective country?

[Beacool]

8. This is infuriating and heartbreaking!!

This poor man is going through a living hell. Cruelty is the point with these horrible people. It's disheartening that so many Americans are OK with what the government is doing to human beings. Ever read the comments in the Daily Mail? Terrible people...

[Chi67]

9. Ugh

And we will most likely never know what happens to him or ever see him again. He’s probably dead already. Once this administration is gone- everyone, from ICE Barbie to ICE agents, must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No “just following orders” bullshit. They are all guilty of the worst human rights violations imaginable. They should NEVER breathe free air again.

[Think. Again.]

11. The U.S. will never live these days down.

It's over, whatever integrity the U.S. might have held in the world is now lost.

History will not be kind to us, the Americans who were alive and knowingly let all this happen.

[Solly Mack]

12. ...