Last month the Trump administration sent an innocent, queer, Venezuelan man to one of the most brutal prisons on earth all because of a tattoo. If your reaction upon hearing that is disgust and horror then you’re a normal person, if your reaction to that is to make a joke you might be a Fox News host.
Jesse Watters is not exactly the most popular guy around, even his own family didn’t want to invite him to Thanksgiving, but then again, when you’re a homophobic, heartless, Trump supporter what do you expect? In his latest display of cruelty, the news host thought it would be funny to make light of the torture and persecution of an Andry José Hernández Romero, an innocent man.
Jesse Watters thinks it’s a laughing matter
On a Fox News segment known as The Five, liberal host, Jessica Tarlov, was mocked by her co-hosts for sympathizing with Andry. Greg Gutfield joked “He’s not into you,” while Watters brushed off the error.
“You’ve been talking about this gay barber from El Salvador with some stupid tattoo for weeks. Jessica, come on. It’s just a gay barber.”
“Just a gay barber,” what an insensitive way to refer to another human being. He went on to say “A lot of people in this country, Jessica, get arrested for things that they didn’t do,” as if that excuses the government in any way.
Watters then followed up with a bad joke: “I have nothing against the gay barbers, gay barbers usually give the best haircuts. So we should bring them back just for that.”
Tarlov also voiced her fears that the El Salvadorian government wasn’t making sure the detainees weren’t being tortured.
What happened to Andry?
Philip Holsinger, a journalist for Time, provided an insight into Andry’s harrowing experience. In his report Holsinger describes the moments after a deportation flight arrived in El Salvador. Detainees were treated incredibly poorly as they were instantly surrounded by “ocean of soldiers and police” before being bundled onto a bus.
Holsinger described one man, Andry, who was sobbing as he told the guards, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.” Detainees were forcibly shaved and stripped before being marched into the cold, there was also some physical abuse that occurred too.
This is just a small glimpse of the world Andry was thrust into. The Venezuelan, who was living in the United States legally, was mischaracterized as a gang member due to his tattoo — a crown which read “Mom.” Despite it very obviously not being a gang tattoo, Andry was still designated as belonging to a gang thanks to Trump’s new eight-point deportation assessment.
Despite the error it seems there is no way of bringing him back to the U.S. This mistake came around the same time as another administrative error which sent husband and father, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to prison in El Salvador too.
Published: Apr 4, 2025 11:49 am