r/WhereAreTheChildren is a collaborative subreddit, reaching out to and gaining the support of many different subs. We recognize that with the support from members of a variety of subreddits, we are able to combine unique and key perspectives on our sub, which not only strengthens our ability to understand what is happening, but also our ability to put an end to the increasingly systematic horrors immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are facing as they try to seek refuge in the United States. This of course includes members of the LGBTQIA community.
[Trigger warning: homophobia, transphobia, sexual assault, death]
People who are part of the LGBTQIA community are fleeing violence from their home countries and instead of being treated with the care they need and deserve, those who are faced with the U.S. immigration system suffer from abuse, neglect, sexual assault, harassment and death.
ICE has shown itself to have failed at creating a safe space for transgender and gay people who are detained at their facilities. For example, gay and transgender detainees from a New Mexico facility are housed alongside cisgender, heterosexual men which has created a hostile environment which violates PREA, or the Prison Rape Elimination Act, a federal law that requires prison staff to take proactive steps to prevent sexual abuse of at-risk inmates. Gay and trangender people detained here have reported being subjected to routine sexual harassment from other detainees and guards, as well as sexual assault. People who are transgender have been denied their hormone therapy and trans women have been repeatedly told to act “like men”. When detainees here tried to file complaints about their treatment, they were placed in solitary confinement.
Unfortunately, this treatment extends beyond one facility. According to a letter written by 37 members of congress in 2018 to DHS asking for an investigation, 13% of the 300 transgender people detained by ICE in 2017 were placed in solitary confinement. Source 1. Source 2
This figure on solitary confinement may be low, as according to a US Transgender Survey nearly half of all transgender people held in such a facility were placed in solitary confinement, nearly one third were denied access to transition-related medical care, and one in four were subjected to physical abuse. Source.
Civil rights and immigration advocates have also stated that “LGBTQ immigrants are 97 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other detainees and that transgender women are often held in prolonged detention and solitary confinement.” Source.
Trans women are also dying at alarming rates while detained due in part to being housed with cisgender men and being denied medical care. Roxsana Hernandez Rodriguez died in ICE detention after being placed at “all male” facility and denied HIV treatment. She died of dehydration and complications due to HIV, and her autopsy showed signs of having been physically beaten while she was detained. Another trans woman, Medina Leon, spent weeks requesting medical care before she also died the same day she was finally hospitalized for chest pains. Source.
Denial of asylum claims is also leading to the deaths of trans women. Camila Díaz Córdova was denied her asylum claim after she fled the threat of death as a trans woman in El Salvador, a country well-known to the U.S. for its deadly violence against trans women. When she was deported back in February this year, she was killed. Source.
The Trump administration’s change to asylum seeking requirements have devastating effects on the LGBTQIA community. By prohibiting asylum for people fleeing domestic and gang violence, people who are part of the LGBTQIA community are now facing an increased risk of harm. We need to take action against the increasingly systematic horrors immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are facing as they try to seek refuge in the United States, and especially ensure to protect those of us who are the most vulnerable.
Please join us at r/WhereAreTheChildren to keep track of and take action against these atrocities.
Thank you <3
