Venezuelan makeup artist who was deported to El Salvador seeks asylum in Spain: ‘I feel safe here’

Andry José Hernández Romero was deported from the US to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison before he was allowed to return to Venezuela

One of the Venezuelan men https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/deportation-alleged-gang-members-el-salvador">sent from the US to El Salvador’s most notorious prison by https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump">Donald Trump has moved to https://www.theguardian.com/world/spain">Spain to request asylum after concluding that he did not feel safe back home and did not trust US authorities sufficiently to return to fight his legal case.

Andry José Hernández Romero left https://www.theguardian.com/world/venezuela">Venezuela for Spain in early February and is due for his first asylum hearing in court there in a few days, hoping that the country’s https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/feb/27/has-immigration-turbocharged-spain-economy-podcast">liberal approach to immigration will afford him kinder treatment than the US or his own country had provided him, he revealed to the Guardian in his first interview since leaving for Europe.