Los Angeles attorney jailed in Venezuela faces spy allegations as US government pressured to act

Congressional lawmakers are calling for the return of a Los Angeles-based attorney who has been held in Venezuela for more than a year after making a wrong turn into the country and is now accused of being a spy. 

Eyvin Hernandez, who has worked with the Los Angeles County public defender's office for over 15 years, has been in custody since March 2022, Fox Los Angeles reported. 

A group of Congressional lawmakers is calling for Hernandez to be returned home. U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-California, has since co-authored a bipartisan resolution that would ask the Biden Administration to secure his release. 

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"Eyvin Hernandez is one of our own. I am glad that my resolution will be marked up this week. This is an important step as we work to #BringEyvinHome," she tweeted on Tuesday. 

Hernandez was arrested along the Colombia-Venezuela border days before he was scheduled to return to the United States from vacation. His family says he traveled there from the city of Medellin with a Venezuelan friend who needed to get her passport stamped to resolve an issue with her migratory status in Colombia.

He was detained after making a wrong turn and ending up near the Venezuelan side of the border. Once Hernandez realized his mistake, it was too late to turn back. A man carrying a rifle demanded that he cough up $100, according to his family. When he protested that he didn’t have any cash, they put a hood over his head. 

He was initially jailed over criminal association and conspiracy allegations.

"No one should be abandoned at the time of their greatest need and when they’re most vulnerable," Hernandez told the Associated Press in a jailhouse recording shortly after his arrest. "However, I don’t feel like my government feels that way about me."

Roger Carstens, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, traveled to Caracas in June for discussions about the welfare and safety of Americans wrongfully detained in Venezuela, the State Department told Fox News Digital. 

"The United States calls for the immediate and unconditional release of  Eyvin Hernandez and all  wrongfully detained U.S. nationals  in Venezuela," an agency spokesperson said. 

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The resolution authored by Kamlager-Dove is expected to be taken up next week, she said Monday. 

Hernandez faces up to 16 years in a Venezuelan prison. 

Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.