City leaders and activists came out in full force Wednesday to remind the country of Andry Hernandez Romero, the Venezuelan makeup artist who captured the hearts of West Hollywood’s LGBTQ+ community.
Romero sought asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and then was swept up in President Trump’s transfer of 238 undocumented Venezuelans to El Salvador’s maximum security prison using the 18th-century “Alien Enemies Act,” claiming his tattoos tied them to a notorious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.
“I can’t make promises that we will bring Andry home, but what I can promise … we will not stop fighting until we bring him home,” said Jorge Diaz, an LGBTQ+ activist.
Lindsay Toczylowski is Romero’s attorney and says ICE used his tattoos in an attempt to tie him to the gang.
“We are a country of laws. What is happening right now is deeply illegal in addition to being immoral,” said Toczylowski.
Talking exclusively with NBC News, Andry’s mother, in Venezuela, says her son is a beautiful person and the tattoos of roses, flowers, butterflies and crowns are artistic. “He is a beautiful person,” said Dolores Alexis Romero, Andry’s mother.
The White House, in court documents, says the crowns are used by the gang.
Experts who study the gang and spoke with NBC News said the gang does not use tattoos as markers of membership.
Despite that, Romeroremains in El Salvador, thousands of miles from his home country and thousands of miles from the West Hollywood community that would like to welcome him to their home.
Romero’s attorney and the ACLU have filed a habeas petition in federal court, challenging his detention.
NBCLA reached out to ICE for comment on Romero’s case and has not received a response.
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