The Los Angeles Blade kicked off its “Free Community Series” in partnership with Roar
Resistance, for a rousing discussion panel titled “Time To Get Informed, Time To
Resist” at The Abbey in West Hollywood last Saturday.

The event featured a panel of notable figures in the city’s government and queer
activism circles who spoke about how to organize and protect queer rights in the current
political climate.

The panel was moderated by Roar Resistance’s Michael Ferrera, and included West
Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Byers, former WeHo Mayor and queer activist Abby Land,
Equality California Communications Director Jorge Reyes Salinas, Political Vice
President of the Stonewall Democratic Club, Nico Brancolini and NAACP LGBTQ
Committee Chair Chris Baldwin.

The discussion kicked off with a call by Abby Land for participants to stay focused on
the issues that matter, despite the flood of new developments constantly coming from
the White House.

“I do think it was designed that way to keep us crazed, to keep us unfocused, to keep us
in a state of panic and fear,” said Land. “We have to look at what is happening and
where is our lane and where are we going to focus our energies and have trust that
there are other people that are focusing in other areas that need focus.”

Each of the panelists then described how the first few months of the current
administration has impacted the work they’re doing in the community and the dangers
they see on the horizon.

“I have been deeply disturbed by the elite capitulation that occurred this time around,”
Brancolini said, noting the big law firms and media corporations that have acceded to
“unconstitutional orders” and rushed to make settlements with Trump and his family.

“Frankly, I’ve been disappointed by a lot of the national Democratic leadership. I think
they treated a 1.5% plurality victory on Trump’s behalf as if it was a huge blowout, and I
think that’s a big mistake,” said Land.

Reyes Salinas pointed out that a one of the most vulnerable communities right now is
trans youth.

“The target is on their backs and the backs of their families and providers,” he said.
“Here in California, we have laws that protect them and we keep improving those, but
there’s still so much fear, and it’s important for everyone to be able understand that
these are children’s lives at stake here.”

But while there was agreement that there is much at risk at the current moment, Chris
Baldwin said this was a time to build stronger coalitions.

“I don’t live my life in fear. I am a Black woman born in the 60s, at a time when my father
when we traveled to Alabama had to step across the street to let a white man pass,”
she said. “We will get through this. Black people have lived through much worse.
Welcome to the civil rights movement. We are going to experience setbacks but we will
keep pushing forward.”

Later, Baldwin invited attendees to join the NAACP, noting that it is an interracial
organization whose membership is open to all. Chelsea Byers echoed that sentiment, noting that this moment presents an opportunity for a new generation of leaders to imagine new ways to solve society’s big problems.

“We know that people are under-resourced. We need to make education accessible to
people bring them on board, help them understand these processes and meet them
where they’re at,” she said. “We need to bring people on board. We can’t go back to
what was, because it wasn’t working. We need to activate our political imaginations in
the biggest way possible.”

When the discussion turned to what people can do to protect our rights, the panelists
focused on practical things anyone can do to help build a successful coalition for
change.

“Every day, do something. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It might be just calling
someone to check in on them, it might be writing a letter, or calling your congressman. It
might be a passive thing,” said Land. “That moment when you think, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe this,’ that’s when you do something, anything and it’ll propel you for the next
day.”

The panel also addressed concerns from the audience that we have to ensure that our
activism is inclusive and intersectional.

“Feminism without intersectionality is just white supremacy,” Baldwin said. “Going
forward with your coalitions, I encourage you to be intentional with your intersectionality,
not just tokenism.”

“There are some common needs that we all care about and it doesn’t matter who you
are, and that’s where we have to be. But when we’re fighting for those things, we have
to recognize there are some people who have different ideas of what that looks like, and
we have to be open to that,” said Land. Reyes Salinas added that it’s an important priority for Equality California to use its platform to lift the voices of diverse parts of the community.

“We can elevate your coalitions, your storytelling, whatever’s happening, my team can
make sure that that’s elevated to ensure that other people see you as a trusted source,”
he said.

Reyes Salinas added that Equality California offers leadership training programs for
people who want to get experience in politics and running for office.

The Los Angeles Blade is planning more community forums to discuss hot-button
issues as they arise.

An award-winning documentary filmmaker and a news producer make up the dynamic duo who now run the Los Angeles chapter of the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists. 

NLGJA is a nationally recognized affinity group meant to unite journalists from dozens of different industries, who identify as members of the LGBTQ community. 

The national chapter recognizes the work and contributions of LGBTQ journalists who work to further the narratives by queer, trans and gender non-conforming people. 

Hansen Bursic, 27, pisces, is one half of the dynamic duo who now run the L.A chapter. 

Katie Karl, 30, gemini, forms the other half. 

Last year, Bursic and Karl took over as interim co-presidents and have been able to grow the local chapter to include a diverse and wide range of voices on the Board of Directors and on the membership list. 

The chapter has hosted a long list of events that include collaborations with other local and national organizations with roots in Los Angeles, such as GALECA: Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and the Asian American Journalists Association. 

It became the first time in the Los Angeles chapter’s history that there was such a shift in leadership, with two people taking over the leading role. 

“It was just too big of a job for one of us to do, especially in rebuilding. So we decided to get together and come on as co-president’s, which was recommended by the national president, Ken Miguel,” said Karl. 

When it comes to the chapter’s mission, Bursic says it’s a two-fold goal. 

“We want to build a sense of community for queer and trans journalists in Southern California and we also want to advocate for those journalists any chance we get by building the spaces where journalists can meet each other, breaking down barriers and trying to reduce gatekeeping of opportunities for our members so they can thrive and find a place in Southern California newsrooms,” he said. 

Many of the events that are hosted by the NLGJA LA Chapter are free and open to the general public through RSVP. One of the common misconceptions the affinity group faces, is that many people feel as though their work may not directly correspond to the work pursued by current members of the group. However, that is not the case. 

“Together, we really want to make sure that everyone feels included,” said Karl. “I’m in broadcast and Hansen is in documentary and together we really push to make sure that no matter what kind of journalist you are, you know there is a space for you and you feel welcomed.” 

The organization welcomes members and people to attend their public events, who work in industries that are adjacent to the work journalists do and those who might just be creatives with multi-hypenated titles. 

Bursic has a full-time day job in communications for a nonprofit, but his creative work extends far beyond his work in communications. His energy and passion lie in documentary filmmaking. Bursic recently directed and produced “Trans Heaven Pennsylvania” (2024). The 12-minute documentary is about the 2010s in Pennsylvania, where each year, a group of trans women would take over a small American town for a week-long party. The documentary was funded through the Creative Hope Initiative, an incubator for emerging LGBTQ filmmakers sponsored by Traverse32 and Outfest Film Festival. 

The film most recently screened internationally in London, at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. Its next screening will be at the Grandview Theater Drafthouse & Cinema in Columbus, Ohio on May 3rd. 

Bursic has a notable list of accomplishments, including making the 30 under 30 list at Temple University in 2023. He has also been named a DOC NYC Documentary New Leader, has had a spot in the Ford Foundation Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellowship and Sundance Film Festival Press Fellowship.

Karl was born and raised in the Greater Los Angeles area, is a dedicated news producer with extensive experience in live news coverage and team coordination. Currently a freelance writer and producer at KABC, she brings years of experience from her work at stations like KPNX, KHQ and KEYT. 

Karl, says the experience of connecting with the members more, has been really rewarding. 

“Going forward, my goal is to grow the chapter in name and recognition,” said Karl. “I want our [reach to get] across other organizations in other areas of journalism and that’s why I joined the board in the first place.”

California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.

The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.

The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”

Garcia told the Los Angeles Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.

“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.

The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”

“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.

“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.

Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. A State Department spokesperson referred the Blade to the Salvadoran government in response to questions about “detainees” in the country.

Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.

“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”

Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.

“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”

The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.

“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.

The State Department spokesperson in response to the Blade’s request for comment referenced spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s comments about Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador.

“These Congressional representatives would be better off focused on their own districts,” said the spokesperson. “Instead, they are concerned about non-U.S. citizens.”

The 2025 Los Angeles Blade Best of LGBTQ LA Awards are here! You submitted your nominations—now it’s time to vote for the finalists. Voting is open through May 2, 2025.

Among some of your favorite categories are Best Drag Performer, Local Influencer of the Year, Best Happy Hour, Go-Go of the Year, Activist of the Year, Public Official of the Year, Best Musical Artist, Best Non-Profit, Best Bartender, Best DJ, Best Local Podcast, and so many more!

Winners will be revealed at the Best of LGBTQ LA celebration on Thursday, May 22 at The Abbey. Stay tuned for more party details coming soon!

Vote using the form below or by clicking HERE.

On Tuesday at 8 a.m., over 100 housing advocates from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) and the Los Angeles office of the National Coalition for the Homeless, will join together for a national day of action to demand “Housing Now” for the homeless community nationwide.

Housing advocates will gather in front of City Hall to wrap the entire perimeter of City Hall in red tape. 

The ‘Stop the Red Tape Protest’ marks the first anniversary of when the Supreme Court of the United States ‘Grants Pass’ oral arguments. The Grants Pass decision in 2024 made it so that cities like Grants Pass and other ‘localities may impose criminal penalties for acts like public camping and public sleeping, without violating the Eighth Amendment — even if they lack sufficient available shelter space to accommodate their unhoused population.’

Since then, Grants Pass has been sued multiple times over ‘objectively unreasonable’ homeless ordinances that discriminate against people with disabilities. 

“Seven people die on the streets of Los Angeles every day. Delays in bringing permanent housing online immediately through adaptive reuse and new construction are unconscionable,” said Susie Shannon, Policy Director for Housing is a Human Right.  “The city response of breaking up encampments for the more than 45,000 people experiencing homelessness in the City of Los Angeles has led to individuals taking refuge in abandoned buildings and in places where services are scarce.”

A recent homeless count estimated that there around 45,000 homeless and unhoused Angelenos in the city. 

According to AHF, the city is far behind in approving building permits and the creation of new and affordable housing units. The red tape and other bureaucratic issues were further exacerbated by the recent fires that affected large swaths of the city.

Pope Francis died on Monday at his official residence at the Vatican. He was 88.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said Francis passed away at Casa Santa Marta at 7:35 a.m. local time (1:35 a.m. ET.)

“His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church,” said Farrell. “He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the one and triune God.”

Francis, a Jesuit who was previously known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was born in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents in 1936. He became archbishop of the Argentine capital in 1998.

Pope John Paul II in 2001 appointed him cardinal. The College of Cardinals in 2013 elected Francis to succeed Pope Benedict XVI after he resigned.

Francis vehemently opposed Argentina’s marriage equality law that then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed in 2010. Francis as pope backed civil unions for gays and lesbians and in 2023 said priests can bless same-sex couples.

Francis in 2023 said laws that criminalize homosexuality are “unjust.” He appointed Robert McElroy, an LGBTQ+-friendly cardinal from San Diego, as the new archbishop of Washington.

The pontiff in 2015 met with a group of gay, transgender, and HIV-positive prisoners in the Italian city of Naples. A Vatican charity in 2020 gave money to a group of trans sex workers in Italy who were struggling to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Francis last October met with a group of trans and intersex Catholics and LGBTQ+ allies at the Vatican. GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis and Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay Chilean man who is a clergy sex abuse survivor, are among those who also met with Francis during his papacy.

Church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity, however, did not change under his papacy.

“From the early months of his papacy when he uttered the now-iconic ‘Who am I to judge?’ in response to a question about accepting gay priests, through numerous affirming pastoral messages to individual LGBTQ+ people, to his support for civil unions, and his condemnation of criminalization laws, Pope Francis has changed the church irreversibly by allowing people to see how their Catholic faith requires acceptance and equality,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Mount Rainier, Md., based LGBTQ+ Catholic advocacy organization, in a statement.

DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke met Francis in 2023.

The group in a statement acknowledged the pontiff’s “legacy on LGBTQ+ issues is complicated,” noting “even with the recognition of so many positive words and actions, church teachings and even some recent Vatican documents remain problematic.” DignityUSA President Meli Barber nevertheless praised Francis.

“We also recognize that Pope Francis has raised awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in our church in truly unprecedented ways,” said Barber. “He spoke about us using our own terms and made a point of being seen meeting with LGBTQ+ people frequently. This sent a message of recognition and inclusion we never experienced from the Vatican before.”

Pope’s legacy is ‘mixed’

Activists in Argentina and around the world also mourned Francis.

“We mourn his death and embrace the people who are suffering today because of his passing,” LGBT Federation of Argentina President María Rachid told the Washington Blade.

Dindi Tan, national president of LGBT Pilipinas in the Philippines, on her Facebook page wrote Francis “was unafraid to challenge age-old dogmas and to ‘rattle’ the cage.” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the Puerto Rico LGBTQ+ Federation, said Francis was an “ally of equity, humanity and dignity of LGBTQ+ people, not only during his pontificate, but throughout his life.”

Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ+ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, in a statement acknowledged Francis’s “more compassionate tone towards sexual minorities” that includes blessings for same-sex couples. Tatchell, nevertheless, pointed out the Vatican under Francis’s papacy continued to oppose marriage equality and trans rights.

“The Catholic Church remains a force for discrimination and suffering,” said Tatchell. “Under his leadership, the Vatican continued to oppose same-sex marriage and trans rights. Catholic bishops lobbied against the decriminalization of homosexuality in many parts of the world. The Vatican still upholds the homophobic edicts of the Catechism, which denounces the sexual expression of same-sex love as a ‘grave depravity’ and ‘intrinsically disordered.’ Francis’s legacy is, therefore, a mixed one — offering some progress but leaving deep-rooted inequalities largely intact.”

Vance met with Francis on Easter Sunday

Francis earlier this year spent more than a month in a Rome hospital after he developed double pneumonia.

He met with Vice President JD Vance at the Vatican on Easter Sunday, hours before his death.

The pope had previously criticized the Trump-Vance administration over its immigration policies.

“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis,” said Vance on X after the Vatican announced Francis’s death. “My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.”

I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.

I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days…

— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 21, 2025

Argentine President Javier Milei, who previously criticized Francis, mourned him in a statement he posted to X. Milei also announced Argentina will observe seven days of mourning.

“It is with profound sorrow that I learned this sad morning that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, passed away today and is now resting in peace,” said Milei. “Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a true honor for me.”

“As president, as an Argentine, and, fundamentally, as a man of faith, I bid farewell to the Holy Father and stand with all of us who meet today with this sad news,” he added.

ADIÓS
Con profundo dolor me entero esta triste mañana que el Papa Francisco, Jorge Bergoglio, falleció hoy y ya se encuentra descansando en paz. A pesar de diferencias que hoy resultan menores, haber podido conocerlo en su bondad y sabiduría fue un verdadero honor para mí.… pic.twitter.com/3dPPFoNWBr

— Javier Milei (@JMilei) April 21, 2025

West Hollywood’s new mayor Chelsea Byers has lofty ambitions to make the 1.8-square-mile city, a model for other cities in the region.

She hopes to deal with compounding crises of housing affordability, traffic congestion, climate change and a new federal government that’s slashing programs and services many people – especially LGBTQ people – rely on.

But can Byers, who was elected to city council in November 2022 and selected as
mayor by council in January, really make a difference during her one-year stint in the
city’s top job?

Byers believe she can.

On one of the biggest challenges facing West Hollywood residents – housing
affordability – Byers fully embraces more housing development.

“For 80% of the city of West Hollywood including myself, who are renters, accessing a
home that is affordable is a very difficult thing. And the way that cities can address that
cost is frankly, by building more housing,” said Byers.

Byers also says she fully accepts the state’s regional housing needs assessment, which
assigned West Hollywood a target of building 3,933 new housing units in the next eight
years. That’s a tall order, given the city is currently only home to about 38,000 people.

“We’re going to have to look at this sort of invisible cap that we put across the town to
increase the capacity in a way that is equitable, that creates more opportunity for
different types of housing to be built. We wouldn’t want all of this rezoning to help us
lead to more one-bedroom apartments, when we know that the future of the city is also
accommodating more families,” said Byers, noting that queer families also struggle to find
homes in West Hollywood.

Those housing targets also dovetail with the city’s long-standing ambition to have
Metro’s K-Line extended through West Hollywood, Byers says.

But even if West Hollywood meets its targets, it’ll only be a small drop in region that
studies estimate needs to build more than 600,000 units of affordable housing. Still,

Byers says West Hollywood can lead by example and get buy-in from the other cities in
LA County to help solve the affordability crisis together.

“I believe that our values can be extended to these other places and help move them
actually in big ways,” said Byers.

Those values necessarily include West Hollywood’s historic diversity and inclusivity of
its LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, both of which are feeling ill at ease from the
federal government’s attacks.

“I think it goes above and beyond the fear-mongering and outright assaults that the
current federal administration’s lobbying at the LGBTQ community. It’s the real
dismantling of funding and structures that existed at the federal level to enable a lot of
the social service programming that our LGBTQ community members rely on,” said Byers. “That is the biggest thing that we feel right now when I’m asked as a city leader,
how are we impacted?”

The city is responding to this looming threat through its own funding process.

“We’re at the start of a three-year cycle that determines how, which organizations, we
invest our $7.8 million social service budget. To have these two moments happening at
the same time gives the city a tremendous opportunity to step up to whatever extent we
can,” she said, noting that programs for sexual health care, HIV programs, and aging
in place are particular priorities.

“Part of what I’m doing is creating funding that is accessible and available in more rapid
ways than our three-year cycle. Because once the three-year cycle has closed its door,
then that is it. One of those tools is a micro grant program that is specifically dedicated
towards Innovative or programming that that is needed,” Byers said.

Part of the response is also ensuring that West Hollywood remains a beacon for LGBTQ
people not just in Los Angeles, but across the country and around the world.

“You’ll see us as the city not back down from our investment in programs like Pride
which are world-class events,” she said. “For us, this is the thing that matters. And
we’re willing to make the additional investments in the public safety resources to make
sure that it’s going to be a safe event.
“I think a lot of our community members have always felt like they are a target already,
and it hasn’t stopped anyone from doing their thing. In fact, if all eyes are watching, then
we better give them a good show, has been our attitude.”

Earlier this month, city council voted to officially designate the Santa Monica strip
between La Cienega and Doheny as the Rainbow District, with a dedicated budget to
improve and promote the area as a destination. The area will soon see new street pole, banners, utility wraps, murals, and the West Hollywood Trolley bus will have service
extended to Thursday nights to help promote business along the strip.

Byers says the city is also looking at reducing red tape around how business spaces are
licensed to help revitalize the area.

“We’ve often said that West Hollywood is a model for how it gets done,” said Byers. “It’s
such a beautiful moment for us to sort of pivot our focus locally and remind ourselves
that cities are about quality of life, and making sure that we can be an inclusive city.”

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) is demanding answers from the Trump-Vance administration on its deportation of Andry Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan makeup artist who was sent to a prison in El Salvador in violation of a federal court order and in the absence of credible evidence supporting the government’s claims about his affiliation with a criminal gang.

Copies of letters the congressman issued on Thursday to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CoreCivic, a private prison contractor, were shared exclusively with the Los Angeles Blade.

Garcia noted that Hernández, who sought asylum from persecution in Venezuela over his sexual orientation and political beliefs, had entered the U.S. legally, passed a preliminary screening, and had no criminal record.

Pro-bono lawyers representing Hernández during his detention in the U.S. pending an outcome in his asylum case were informed that their client had been removed to El Salvador a week after he failed to show for a hearing on March 13.

Hernández’s family now fears for his safety while he remains in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), which has a well documented record of human rights abuses, Garcia said.

Additionally, the congressman wrote, while experts say Tren de Aragua does not use tattoos as identifiers, the “primary evidence” supporting Hernández’s deportation based on his supposed links to the transnational Venezuelan gang “appears to have been two crown tattoos labeled ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad,’ which are common cultural symbols in his hometown.”

The determination about his links to or membership in the organization was made by a CoreCivic employee whose criminal record and misconduct as a law enforcement officer led to his termination from the Milwaukee Police Department, Garcia wrote in his letter to the company.

Requesting a response by May 1, the congressman asked CoreCivic President Damon T. Hininger to address the following questions:

• What qualifications and training does CoreCivic require for employees tasked with making determinations about detainees’ affiliations?
• What protocols are in place to ensure that determinations of gang affiliation are based on credible and corroborated evidence?
• How does CoreCivic oversee and review the decisions made by its employees in such critical matters?
• What mechanisms exist to prevent and address potential misconduct?
• What is the nature of CoreCivic’s collaboration with ICE in making determinations that affect deportation decisions? Are there joint review processes?
• What background checks and ongoing assessments are conducted for employees involved in detainee evaluations, particularly those with prior law enforcement experience?
• What guidelines does CoreCivic follow regarding the use of tattoos as indicators of gang affiliation, and how does the company ensure that cultural or personal tattoos are not misinterpreted?

In his letter to Tae D. Johnson, acting director of ICE, Garcia requested answers to the following questions by May 1:

• Did ICE personnel independently review and approve the determination made by CoreCivic employee Charles Cross Jr. identifying Mr. Hernández Romero as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang?
• What evidence, beyond Mr. Hernández Romero’s tattoos, was used to substantiate the claim of gang affiliation?
• Under what legal authority are private contractors like CoreCivic permitted to make determinations that directly impact deportation decisions?
• What vetting processes and background checks are in place for contractors involved in such determinations? Are there oversight mechanisms to ensure their credibility and adherence to due process?
• What guidelines does ICE follow regarding the use of tattoos as indicators of gang affiliation, and how does the company ensure that cultural or personal tattoos are not misinterpreted?

Together with U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Garcia wrote to U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Tuesday requesting permission to bring a congressional delegation to CECOT for purposes of conducting a welfare check on detainees, expressing specific concern for Hernández’s wellbeing. The congressmen said they would “gladly include any Republican Members of the committee who wish to participate.” 

Hernández’s case has drawn fierce criticism of the Trump-Vance administration along with calls for his return to the U.S.

Influential podcaster and Trump ally Joe Rogan spoke out in late March, calling the deportation “horrific” and “a horrible mistake.”

Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sent a letter to Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Homeland Security, which manages ICE, demanding Hernández’s immediate return and raising concerns with the right to due process amid the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Hernández “was denied the opportunity to defend himself against unsubstantiated allegations of gang involvement or to present his asylum claim,” the governor wrote. “We are not a nation that sends people to be tortured and victimized in a foreign prison for public relations victories.”

Immigrant Defenders Law Center President Lindsay Toczylowski, who is representing Hernández, has not been able to reach her client since his removal from the U.S., she told NBC News San Diego in a report published April 11.

“Under the Constitution, every single person has a right to due process, and that means they have a right to notification of any allegations the government is making against them and a right to go into court and prove that those allegations are wrong if that’s the case,” she said. “In Andry’s case, the government never gave us that opportunity. In fact, they didn’t even bring him to court, and they have forcefully sent him to El Salvador without ever giving us any notice or without telling us the way that we could appeal their decision.”

“CECOT, this prison where no one has ever left, where people are held incommunicado, is a very dangerous place for someone like Andry,” Toczylowski said.

In March, a DHS spokesperson posted on X that Hernández’s “own social media indicates he is a member of Tren de Aragua,” though they did not point to any specific posts and NBC reported that reviews of his known social media accounts turned up no evidence of gang activity.  

During a visit to CECOT in March, Time Magazine photographer Philip Holsinger photographed Romero and reported that the detainee plead his innocence — “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist.” — crying for his mother as he was slapped and his head was shaved.

A transgender Brazilian congresswoman says the U.S. issued her a visa that listed her gender as “male.”

Erika Hilton on Wednesday wrote on her Instagram page that she requested a visa that would have allowed her to travel to the U.S. in order to participate in the Brazil Conference at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The conference took place earlier this month.

“I was classified as ‘male’ by the U.S. government when I went to get my visa,” wrote Hilton, who added a visa she received from the U.S. in 2023 listed her gender as “female.”

Hilton is a Black travesti and former sex worker from São Paulo who won a seat in the Brazilian Congress in 2022. The Washington Blade spoke with Hilton shortly after her election.

“It is a big responsibility … but I feel very honored,” said Hilton. “I very much like to be able to be a representative for my people, and the more than 250,000 people who voted for me have confidence in me,” she said after she spoke at a rally in support of now Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a São Paulo square. “This demonstrates that our work has the potential to have a gigantic reach; where we can advance efforts to end death, poverty, misery, genocide that we have.”

President Donald Trump in his inaugural speech announced the federal government’s “official policy” is “there are only two genders, male and female.” The Trump-Vance administration has also banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.

Germany and Denmark are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S. These warnings come ahead of WorldPride, which is scheduled to take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8.

Hilton said she is “not surprised” the U.S. issued her a visa with a male gender marker.

“I’m also not surprised by the level of hatred and fixation these people have with trans people,” she said. “After all, the documents I presented are rectified, and I’m registered as a woman, even on my birth certificate.”

Hilton further accused the U.S. of “ignoring official documents from other sovereign nations, even from a diplomatic representative.”

“At the end of the day, I’m a Brazilian citizen, and my rights are guaranteed and my existence is respected by our own constitution, legislation, and jurisprudence,” she said.

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Editor’s note: Duda Salabert, another transgender Brazilian congresswoman, also said the U.S. listed her gender as “male” on her American visa.

A new investigation points to a discredited, former police officer who played a “key role” in the wrongful deportation of Andry Hernández Romero, a gay asylum seeker and make-up artist who was sent to a prison in El Salvador under Trump’s Alien Enemies Act. 

USA Today found in a recent investigation that the former Milwaukee police officer who filed the report about Hernández Romero, citing his tattoos as the reason for the alleged gang affiliation, has a long history of credibility and disciplinary issues in his former police officer position. 

The private prison employee who previously worked as a police officer until he was fired for driving into a house while intoxicated—among other alcohol-related incidents—“helped seal the fate,” of Hernández Romero. 

The investigation by USA Today found that the former police officer accused Hernández Romero of being a part of the Tren de Aragua gang because of Romero’s two crown tattoos with the words “mom,” and “dad,” which are now being identified as Venezuelan gang-related symbols. 

Since then, his story has made headlines across the nation because Hernández Romero not only has no criminal record, but is legally seeking asylum in the U.S. due to credible threats of violence against him in Venezuela because of LGBTQ persecution. 

He was targeted shortly after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which is a proclamation for all law enforcement officials to “apprehend, restrain, secure and remove every Alien Enemy described in section 1 of [the] proclamation.”

Charles Cross Jr., the former police officer, signed the report that wrongfully identified  Hernández Romero as a gang member. Cross was fired in 2012 after many incidents relating to his credibility and how it was affecting the credibility of the Milwaukee Police Department to testify in court. 

He had already been under investigation previously for claiming overtime pay that he never earned. In 2007, he had faced criminal charges for damage to property, according to court records. 

In March, The Washington Blade spoke with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center Litigation and Advocacy Director Alvaro M. Huerta regarding the case who stated that “officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection alleged his organization’s client was a member of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based gang, because of his tattoos and no other information.” 

Hernandez Romero came to the United States last year in search of asylum and now makes up one of 238 Venezuelan immigrants who were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela. Many of those being deported are being sent to the Center for Terrorism Confinement, a maximum-security mega-prison in El Salvador, which has been accused of human rights violations. 

According to the investigation, the Department of Homeland Security “wouldn’t offer further details on the case, or the process in general, but reiterated that the department uses more than just tattoos to determine gang allegiance.” 

His story is now being looked at as a cautionary tale for the lack of due process the U.S. government is taking, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramp up deportations across the nation. 

Organizations like the Human Rights Campaign are now calling for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to cease wrongful deportations and return Hernández Romero home. The petition also urges the U.S. government to afford all Americans, including nationals and asylum seekers residing in the U.S., due process of law as required by the Constitution.