Mexican-American fashion designer Willy Chavarria made a bold statement against the Trump administration’s massive deportations by holding a performance “inspired” by illegal immigrant detainees at the Paris Fashion Week show.
California-based designer Chavarria presented a Paris fashion show titled “Huron,” featuring 35 male models styled to resemble inmates from El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Set to the song “California Dreamin’,” the models wore plain white t-shirts, sported crew cuts, and walked the runway with heads bowed, suggesting submission. The shirts were reportedly produced in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The show drew comparisons to unsettling scenes involving the 252 Venezuelan migrants affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang, who were deported to El Salvador earlier this year after President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
California fashion designer Willie Chavarria honors migrants detained by ICE at Paris Fashion Week, via @REMEZCLA pic.twitter.com/6b77xtv2do
— Pablo Manríquez (@PabloReports) June 28, 2025
In response, El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele said he is willing to send deported illegal immigrants to France.
“We’re are [sic] ready to ship them all to Paris whenever we get the green light from the French government,” Bukele wrote on X. “This is the result of glorifying criminals in Paris. He who spares the wolf sacrifices the sheep.”
He shared a video featuring a woman in tears, describing how she had been repeatedly harassed in Paris and expressing fear about going anywhere alone in the city.
The Salvadoran Press Secretariat of the Presidency also stressed the country’s government would take “a firm stance against the attempt to glorify criminality.”
Since 2022, El Salvador has operated under an emergency measure known as the “state of exception,” which granted Bukele broad powers to launch an aggressive campaign against the country’s most dangerous gangs. This initiative included implementing tough security measures and building the high-security CECOT prison. Once infamous for its high murder rate, El Salvador has seen a dramatic decline in violent crime under Bukele’s hardline approach.
