AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.

It’s Pride Month. This weekend, major celebrations will be taking place all over the country. Well, this week also has marked over 100 days since Andry José Hernández Romero and over 200 others were sent on a plane without warning or due process to El Salvador. They were not deported but rather sent to El Salvador to be confined in a notorious mega prison known as CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, where they have no ability to communicate with the outside world, including with their families or legal counsel.

The Trump administration’s paying the Bukele government to hold Andry and the others in CECOT. We believe something like $6 million. While they’ve been described by the administration as the worst of the worst, in fact, the majority of those sent to CECOT have no serious criminal history. Andry and others have been accused of being a member of the Tren de Aragua gang and sent to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. He’s now the lead plaintiff in the case J. G. G. v. Trump, which is seeking the return of Andry and all the men unlawfully sent to El Salvador under this act.

Andry is a makeup artist. He came to the US to seek asylum, but he never set foot in the country and never had a chance to plead his case. He was immediately placed in immigration detention here in the US, reportedly because of a tattoo he has of a crown. He spent months in detention before he was sent to El Salvador. Andry’s family has not heard from him since March, before he boarded the flight. He told his mother he was being flown home to Venezuela. She only found out he was in fact in the Salvador prison when he never arrived home and a week later, saw images on the news from CECOT, including of her son. We’re going to go right now to a clip.

PHILIP HOLSINGER: …he was a soy gay, and saying that he was innocent. And he was being slapped every time he would speak up. But he just – like, he couldn’t help himself. Then, he started praying and calling out, literally crying, for his mother. His crying out for his mother really touched me.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Philip Holsinger, who was a photographer who took a photo of Andry with his hair being cut as he cried out for his mother. We’re joined now by Margaret Cargioli who is representing Andry as well as eight others as their immigration attorney. She’s the Directing Attorney of the Policy and Advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Thanks for coming in from New Jersey. Explain what’s happened. Where is he?

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Unfortunately, it’s been 105 days since over 200 men, including Andry, were disappeared from the United States to El Salvador and to CECOT. Immigration attorneys, attorneys have not been able to have any contact with Andry, his family has not been able to see him and they have not been able to speak with him directly since they were sent there. We have been fighting in Immigration Court to keep his case alive, but unfortunately in many of these cases, the immigration judges have dismissed their cases, essentially closing them, even though we’ve argued that their due process rights were violated, they were in the middle of the immigration proceedings and these cases should continue to stay alive because they should be returned to have their right to defend their cases, seek asylum and keep their temporary protective status, for example.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to Andry’s mother and his best friend. On Wednesday evening, Democracy Now! reached Andry Hernández Romero’s mother, Alexis Romero, and his best friend, Reina Cardenas. They were speaking from Andry’s hometown in Venezuela of Capacho. Reina went with some people recently, family members of those held in CECOT, to El Salvador to try to meet with Andry. But they were denied that ability. Reina filed a petition to visit Andry, languishing in CECOT without any communication for over three months now, her petition denied. Andry’s loved ones continue to demand for his release and immediate proof he’s still alive, and they haven’t been able to speak to him since he was put on that plane from Texas to El Salvador.

ALEXIS ROMERO: My son is everything to me. He is a young man who is very introverted, a person who loves to learn, who loves to help other people. He is a homebody and 100% supportive of his dad, his brother, and me, his mom. Andry last called me on March 14 at 6:30 in the afternoon, telling me he was coming home, that they were going to transfer him to another detention center in Texas, where the plane was going to bring them to Venezuela. The plane was carrying all of the other innocent young men. But the plane didn’t come here. It was sent to El Salvador. I found out my son was there the following Thursday. From then on, our lives changed. We were so happy waiting for him to come home so that all of his trauma would end. Instead, everything got worse.

REINA CARDENAS: Andry and I were in touch when he was in detention in the United States. He basically never entered the US. He was detained from the moment he showed up for his asylum appointment. That’s when this process began. One day, he called me and said, “Reina, they’re linking me to Tren de Aragua. I need you to get me photos, all the documentation from the Three Wise Men because of the crowns.” I sent these documents and evidence so that he could defend himself, something US authorities never gave him the right to do. He never had due process. I’ve known Andry since we were kids. I’m older than him. I’m 36, and he’s 32. We’ve been neighbors for over 20 years. We also have relatives in common.

We spent so much time together, we drank coffee, we went out to dinner, we would hang out here at my house. He did my makeup. He was my confidante, and I was his confidante. We had a very close relationship, more than a friendship, like siblings. We also worked for the same Three Wise Men Foundation, where Andry has been an actor for 25 years. This is the festivity, the Capacho Three Kings Foundation, which has been in existence for 108 years. We are part of the artistic, cultural and religious heritage of the municipality, this state in Venezuela. It has a long history, and Andry has participated as an actor since he was 7 years old. He has participated as an actor, stylist, makeup artist, and costume designer. If we don’t fight for him, who will? This is all so painful. We need Andry to know that he is not alone.

ALEXIS ROMERO: When my son left the United States, he would tell me and his dad that he’s going to help us and that he would make his dream come true to have his own salon. And they thwarted all of that. They stepped on him, ran him over, completely shut down his dream. Now, what is my boy going to do? My message to Andry is that I love him, that I want him to come home, that I want him to be strong. He is a warrior. His dad, his brother and I are eagerly waiting for him. We are doing everything in our power to bring him home.

REINA CARDENAS: And the United States government claims to be law-abiding, democratic, and committed to justice and the law, but it isn’t. There is no evidence this is happening.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Reina Cardenas, Andry’s best friend, and Alexis Romero, his mother, speaking from their hometown of Capacho in Venezuela, speaking to Democracy Now!’s Maria Inez Taracena and Nicole Salazar. Special thanks.

We are in the studio with Andry’s lawyer, Margaret Cargioli. How is this possible? The tattoos that supposedly the Trump administration has used, he was in a legal process in this Trump detention center, seeking asylum. There is a tattoo on either hand of mom and dad, and they have a crown as just described because he lives in this town of King pageantry.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Yeah, so unfortunately in many of these cases, because of having just benign tattoos, tattoos that many people have such as a crown that says mom or dad, they accused him of being part of Tren de Aragua. They presented no other records, no criminal records, no arrest records, just photos that they assume are connected to Tren de Aragua.

AMY GOODMAN: So, explain what the judge has said in this case, Judge Boasberg.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Yeah, so in the J. G. G. v. Trump case, it’s a federal court case, recently, Judge Boasberg said that the men’s rights were violated when they were sent to El Salvador and that the United States government needs to facilitate their due process rights, they need to present evidence as to how they’re going to give them the right, for example, to habeas. We believe that they need to be returned to the United States in order to be afforded those rights.

AMY GOODMAN: And his best friend, Reina, just tried to get to see him in El Salvador and couldn’t, along with other relatives. She was denied.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Yes, unfortunately, their family, friends, attorneys have had no direct access to any of the men that were sent to CECOT. It’s extremely concerning and alarming because we are not getting any information as to what’s happening in their daily lives, as to their conditions. We know that Matt Gaetz recently went…

AMY GOODMAN: Matt Gaetz, the former disgraced congressmember, now a podcaster.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Correct, went to – yes, went to CECOT, walked through while these men were pleading for their freedom, making universal hand signals, SOS signals, asking for help, saying they were kidnapped. And he just walks through with other representatives, and that is the only video footage that we’ve seen of some of these men, including one of our clients.

AMY GOODMAN: And why did Andry seek asylum here, going through the correct process?

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Yes, Andry last entered the United States with a CBP One appointment. He sought asylum because he was persecuted due to his political opinion and because he’s LGBTQ+. He had the right to seek asylum in the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: The endless pictures of him as a hairdresser with models and that he’s so proudly put online.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Yes, in the reports that have come out about many of these men, their parents have shown photos to evidence who they were, where they worked. These are real human beings who we know have no criminal records, no ties to Tren de Aragua, but they’ve been silenced, purposefully silenced by the United States government.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re about to go to the former head of the Progressive Caucus, Pramila Jayapal. She is standing by in Washington. But I want to ask you about one more of your number of your clients, and that is Miguel. Where is he?

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Miguel Rojas Mendoza is one of our clients. He had a hearing yesterday where I represented him virtually at Immigration Court. For the second time at a hearing where I asked exactly where he was deported, the government has told me that they cannot provide it. They confirmed he was removed from the United States but refused to say exactly where he is. I asked the immigration judge.

AMY GOODMAN: He doesn’t have a criminal record.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: Correct. He has no convictions, he was apparently accused of Tren de Aragua because he also has benign tattoos. And in many of these cases, the government is seeking to dismiss them, close their immigration cases.

AMY GOODMAN: But explain, you’re having a hearing in court yesterday, and they would not say where they sent this man to?

MARGARET CARGIOLI: It is almost incredible to believe that yesterday in a United States Immigration Court hearing, I had to ask for these details, and it was not provided to me. I was told that I need to send an email, was provided an email address where I could try to obtain more information.

AMY GOODMAN: About where Miguel was sent to.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: About where – what country he was sent to.

AMY GOODMAN: But they admit that they kidnapped him, that they took him and sent him out of the country.

MARGARET CARGIOLI: They do – they did finally, in this court hearing, admit that he was removed. It is quite astonishing that in the United States, people are being disappeared in this manner, and we’re continuing to see these egregious immigration policies taking place all throughout the country, where people are literally being kidnapped, and families cannot find where their loved ones are.

AMY GOODMAN: Margaret Cargioli, I want to thank you for being with us. We’ll be in touch with you again. Directing Attorney of Policy and Advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, joining us here in New York.