Over 250 Venezuelan Migrants Released From El Salvador In US-Venezuela Prisoner Swap

Andry Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan asylum seeker who fled persecution and anti-LGBTQ+ violence, was deported by the Trump administration to a notorious prison in El Salvador despite passing a credible fear interview and a judge's order to return him to the U.S. He was among over 250 Venezuelan men detained and deported under the Trump administration's policy targeting undocumented immigrants allegedly linked to criminal gangs, though evidence of such ties was scant and based on misinterpreted tattoos. Hernández Romero and others have been held in the CECOT prison, known for torture and inhumane conditions. Recently, Hernández Romero was released as part of a prisoner swap brokered by the U.S., which secured the release of 10 American citizens held in Venezuela in exchange for the return of these Venezuelan detainees to their home country. His release brings him back to Venezuela rather than the U.S., where he is the lead plaintiff in a court challenge against the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to justify deportations. Family members of other detainees expressed relief and hope as men returned from El Salvador, highlighting the human cost of the administration's immigration enforcement policies.