Gavin Newsom asks Homeland Security to return deported asylum seeker to the US
It’s Monday; welcome to the AM Alert. The California Legislature is recessed until Monday, April 21.
NEWSOM TO DHS: RETURN VENEZUELAN ASYLUM SEEKER TO THE U.S.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to return to the United States a recently-expelled gay Venezuelan makeup artist who sought asylum in California last year.
Last August, Andry José Hernández Romero sought refuge here, claiming that he was at risk of persecution in his native country because of his sexual orientation and opposition to President Nicolás Maduro. Immigration officials said he passed a “credible fear” interview, and transferred him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.
In March, the Trump administration transferred Hernández Romero and 237 other Venezuelan men to a South Texas facility and then to a Salvadoran anti-terrorism prison notorious for human rights abuses, claiming the men were members of the Tren de Aragua cartel because of their tattoos and nationality, according to court documents. An ICE agent who flagged Hernández Romero’s tattoos as evidence of his alleged gang affiliation is a former disgraced Milwaukee police officer with credibility issues.
Hernández Romero does not have any criminal record, according to Newsom. Hernández Romero’s attorneys at the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center told media outlets they have not heard from their client since his deportation to El Salvador, which has become a black site for immigrants targeted by Trump’s mass deportation scheme.
Neither the center nor DHS immediately responded to requests for comment Friday. As of Friday morning, the administration had defied a court order to repatriate a Maryland man whom the agency wrongly deported to El Salvador.
“Mr. Hernández Romero should be returned immediately to the United States for an immigration judge to evaluate the merits of his case,” Newsom wrote. “We are not a country that sends people to be tortured and victimized in a foreign prison for public relations victories. I urge you to reevaluate your policies and ensure due process for everyone under the control of the U.S. judicial and law enforcement system, including those wrongly sent to El Salvador, as federal law requires.”
WESTERN SENATORS WANT TO FIX OUR FORESTS
Via David Lightman...
Democratic and Republican senators from western states this week got together to propose legislation that would make big changes in how the federal government fights and prevents wildfires.
The “Fix Our Forests Act,” whose sponsors include Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., would make it easier for different government agencies to get together to fight and prevent fires.
It would create a new Wildlife Intelligence Center to look at innovative ways to operate. It would create a single, interagency program to help simplify applications for grants. It would expand programs to test and deploy new wildlife prevention, detection and mitigation technology.
And the bill would “improve reforestation, seedling supply and nursery capacity, establish new programs for white oak restoration and clarify policies to reduce wildfire-related litigation and expedite forest health treatments.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom also threw his weight behind the bill and called it a “step forward” to build upon California’s recovery efforts after January’s devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
Other bill sponsors include Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Tim Sheehy, R-Montana.
FIGHT THE (MOSQUITO) BITE
This week marks Mosquito and West Nile Virus Awareness Week, and the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District wants you to know how to protect yourself.
As summer approaches, temperatures are on the rise, creating perfect conditions for mosquitoes to “thrive” and pass along both bug bites and diseases like West Nile, according to district manager Gary Goodman. West Nile is a disease passed along by mosquito bites that causes symptoms like fever, headaches, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea and rash.
People can reduce their exposure by draining standing water from any flowerpots, bird baths, dog dishes and other outdoor sources where mosquitoes can breed, Goodman said in a news release. You should also avoid being outdoors at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active. Also wear long pants and sleeves to avoid exposure, and use insect repellent.
Last year, there were 129 cases of West Nile statewide, including 12 deaths. Invasive mosquito species can also carry other diseases like Zika and dengue fever. In 2024, there were 18 cases of locally acquired dengue infections, Goodman said.
Awareness Week runs from Sunday, April 13, to Saturday, April 19.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We need to continually remind ourselves: This isn’t just about this one guy. If they get away with deporting him with no due process and then refuse to bring him back, they can do the same to citizens.” —Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, on the Trump administration’s failure to return a wrongly-deported man to the United States from El Salvador.
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