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Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants remain in a maximum security prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration has accused them of gang ties, despite little or no criminal record, and the families of those migrants are demanding answers. NPR's Manuel Rueda has more from Venezuela.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in non-English language).
MANUEL RUEDA, BYLINE: In the town of Capacho, Venezuela, a crowd takes to the streets to demand the release of several locals sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in non-English language).
RUEDA: Leading the group are the relatives of Andry Hernandez, a makeup artist who's well-known in this town of 50,000 people. For several years, he acted in the annual Epiphany procession and designed costumes for many of the characters.
ALEXIS ROMERO: (Non-English language spoken).
RUEDA: "He's an artist, not a member of a gang or a terrorist group," says his mother, Alexis Romero. "They're making him pay for crimes he didn't commit." Hernandez left Venezuela a year ago, heading to the U.S. in search of better job opportunities and a place where he could live openly as a gay man. His best friend, Reina Cardenas, says that he had to keep his true identity hidden in Capacho.
REINA CARDENAS: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "We're a very traditional town, and homosexuality is taboo," she says. "If you're openly gay, you can get harassed in the street or attacked."
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RUEDA: Like thousands of Venezuelans, Hernandez decided to trek north, crossing the Darien Gap and reaching Mexico. Using an app set up by the Biden administration, he got an appointment to cross the border and request asylum. But Hernandez was sent straight to a detention center by immigration officials who suspected he could be a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
MELISSA SHEPHERD: They noticed that he had tattoos, and because of those tattoos, he was detained.
RUEDA: Melissa Shepherd is an immigration lawyer who has defended Hernandez in U.S. courts.
SHEPHERD: In some of the paperwork that we have received, they indicate that because he had tattoos and also because sometimes Tren de Aragua members have tattoos, that he was somehow associated with them.
RUEDA: The tattoos that alarmed U.S. officials were two images of crowns on Hernandez's wrists, with the words mom and dad written above them. Hernandez's friends in Capacho say that he chose those tattoos to honor his parents and also because of his connection to the Three Kings procession. Miguel Chacon is a family friend who organizes the event.
MIGUEL CHACON: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "Andry had participated in the procession since he was 7 years old," he says. "It's a very important tradition that the residents of Capacho carry in their blood." Hernandez was sent to El Salvador on March 15, after he had spent six months in a California detention center. He was in the group of over 200 Venezuelans who were accused of being gang members by the Trump administration and were flown to the notorious CECOT prison. The detainees have been allowed no communication with their lawyers or their families since they were taken there.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
RUEDA: During a meeting in Capacho, relatives of several of the detained migrants said they're now asking for proof they're alive. "It's very unfair," says Gabriela Mora, whose husband, Carlos Uzacategui was also sent to El Salvador over his tattoos. "There are people there who have children and have no criminal records," she says.
At her home in Capacho, Andry Hernandez's mother scrolls through pictures of her son on her phone.
ROMERO: (Speaking Spanish, crying).
RUEDA: She says that not being able to communicate with him has been traumatic. "Our souls are hanging by a thread," she says. "Every day, we're thinking about how he's doing and how he's being treated. We have no peace."
ROMERO: (Speaking Spanish, crying).
RUEDA: With the help of lawyers in El Salvador, Hernandez's family has filed a petition at that nation's Supreme Court, seeking his release on the grounds that he was imprisoned without due process.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in Spanish).
RUEDA: Several other families have done the same, says Walter Marquez, a former Venezuelan legislator who's leading efforts to bring the migrants back home.
WALTER MARQUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "We hope that El Salvador's courts are independent from their government," he says. Now Hernandez's relatives and others are preparing to travel to El Salvador themselves, determined to have their voices heard and bring their loved ones home.
For NPR News, I'm Manuel Rueda, Capacho, Venezuela.
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