Tim Miller talks with Mother Jones reporters Noah Lanard and Isabela Dias about their investigation into how innocent Venezuelan migrants were secretly deported by the U.S., detained in El Salvador, and used in a political prisoner swap.
You can read their full story at Mother Jones: “We Were Kidnapped”
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Isabela, we will NEVER forget. Thank you for looking these horrors in the face so they cannot be ignored.
Tim thank goodness for your reporting on this story, and specifically on Andry. I have reached my deepest point of depression with this story.
I've been following closely because my friend (formerly my best friend) is undocumented, (until he received his green card last week) and e he is specifically Venezuelan, and has many tattoos from his rock and roll days. He was a DACA recipient when his family brought him to Florida when he was 6. His mom is the only parent able to get into the US regularly to see us, I love him and his mother so much and can't imagine him and her going through such an injustice, imagining it brought me to tears. I finally reached out to him since the election with a screen shot of your article, Tim, and followed up with a text expressing my relief that Andry was finally in contact with his mother and especially out of the gulag. I was resistant to text him about anything before this because I consider him a far-right sympathizer, but he calls himself a libertarian.
This is our verbatim conversation:
Me: Idk if you were aware of this story but my polical magazine has been giving updates on Andry the Venezuelan make up artist that was wrongfully sent to CECOT. Thank goodness the pressure campaign has gotten him specifically and some other Venezuelan nationals out. He's finally out, and the updated news is that he and his mother are finally able to contact each other 💔
Him: You know I’m not fully convinced he’s just an innocent “gay make up artist” but they should probably just release what they have on him instead of letting this narrative build up that it was just for his tattoos. They detained him at the border and it was during the Biden admin when they were letting in so many people. So it seems odd. But it does point to the insanity that is the immigration system. One president detains you, then the other deports you to a country you don’t even know? Shit makes no sense. And the fact that all that stuff remains sealed also feels insane. Like if you commit a crime in the us are our records sealed? I thought that then becomes public record? I feel like to some extent with immigration cases like that if there is enough public demand they should release any evidence they have to deem the individual deportable.
I was heartbroken again
Good headline. Thanks for the update.
It is difficult not to see the parallels between the story of the exodus of the Israelites from the oppression of pharaoh with Netanyahu’s oppression of Palestinians in Gaza and Trump’s oppression of brown migrants in America.
“You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21, RSV)
Say the victims names out loud.
Thank you for telling this story. Repetition every day is critical for all the people who are being detained in horrible conditions or sent to awful places. We cannot be allowed to forget. All of these mistreated people should sue, and the money come from ICE's budget.
Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about what Israel is doing in Gaza.
My bad.
Gotta hand it to Trump - so evil he makes Maduro look good and gets the Bulwark and Mother Jones on the same page!! It's painful to know my tax dollars are funding atrocities every day. Glad they are no longer being tortured.
I get it. Really, I do. You're upset about undocumented immigrants being sent to CECOT, as I am.
And The Bulwark has covered this scandal extensively.
But ... guys ... Israel has killed 7 US citizens. US CITIZENS. And, as far as I know, nobody from The Bulwark has covered these deaths at all. Not a single mention. Not a single "take". No condemnation of these killings. No demand for a full investigation. Just ... nothing.
Why?
https://zeteo.com/p/why-do-politicians-care-more-israel-americans?r=3hh94p&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I check every day for some form of condemnation of the on-going killing of Gaza residents by IDF. Unless I have missed it, there's been nothing. I love the Bulwark and appreciate all their reporting but this is a huge act of neglect, in my opinion at least.
I don't expect The Bulwark, or any US mainstream media, to condemn the killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by Israel, at least not while smirking about it:
https://youtu.be/iLCyabNgggk?si=qJQcOBA5QwbAAhwn
But ... what I don't understand is: if The Bulwark can express significant empathy for non-Americans being deprived of due process, I don't understand the complete lack of empathy for actual American citizens deprived of their lives?
I’m very glad that the makeup artist Andry Hernández Romero was part of the group that was just freed from CECOT, but not that he was sent back to Venezuela.
That’s the country he was fleeing, so it would be great if another country that’s gay-friendly offered him asylum. I don’t see him being allowed back into the US, but there are plenty of other places where he can live safely as a gay man.
Any chance you can get him on your podcast, Tim?
I am so grateful that they are out of CECOT. But as you say, are they really safe? They were sent to the "Center for Confinement of Terrorists," but the real terrorists here are Stephen Miller, Trump, Tom Homan, all their masked agents, and all the Trump toadies. They are conducting a reign of terror in our country against "foreigners," journalists, lawmakers, lawyers, and judges. Who's next? Oh, and add comedians to that list.
Makes you wonder if the plan all along was to use these men both for propaganda and for leverage. Shameful.
Tim, Thanks for having Noah and Isabella on. Their dedication to humanity and justice is inspiring. The only people in this story deserving of prison our Trump, Maduro and Bukele. Like to see all three in the same 4x4 cell.
Thanks, Tim, for highlighting these reporters and keeping these stories front of mind.
So much gets lost in the churn; and these abductions, dissappearances, torture, and human trafficking are what will be at the heart of what makes the Trump Regime a regime.
Side note: Abuse and trafficking in children and humans & doing deals with like-minded evil powerful men is not something new to Donald. His buddy currently dominating the news cycle did precisely that.
Tim, thanks so much for keeping a spotlight on these stories. It's so important to keep a record of these atrocities. We must have our own Nuremberg trials to hold even those "just following orders" to account.
I’ve seen some videos. They are HEARTLESS.
Thanks for the update Tim. I’m still worried about the fate of the men who tried to get asylum here but I’m also worried if there are still men in CECOT who we sent there? I’m not sure we ever got a full list of the renditions but I understand there are a number of El Salvadorans sent there as well.
Thank you Tim. This is SO IMPORTANT--we need to know about all of these men. We need to hear their stories and hopefully the spotlight will cause the Maduro regime to let them all go. They have lived through four months of HELL on earth.
Tim, thanks for staying on this story.
35% or so of the country loves this barbarous treatment of other human beings, but, no doubt, history will judge these heinous actions.