90 Days In The Hole

Some of us end up in detention not because we did something wrong but because of what we are running from. Many trans-people seek asylum here because of the violence they face in their home country.

Detention Centers Prep for Safer Transgender Housing
WeNews
By Amy Lieberman
October 1, 2013

NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)--Sarah Vidal, an attorney at the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, is representing a 29-year-old transgender woman from Honduras who has been housed since February at the all-male Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas.

Her client, like a number of other detainees, is seeking asylum. In her case it's because of her gender identity. If she were to go back to Honduras she worries what would happen to her as a transgender woman. A judge initially denied her case and it is now before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Vidal's client lives in a dorm with about 20 men and has filed formal complaints alleging an attempted rape, as well as ongoing harassing comments by detainees and guards.

We find this all too often in prison where trans-women are placed in the general male population where they are subject to abuse and rape. There was a play that I saw about immigration reform called “Tara's Crossing” back in 2006 Charter Oak Cultural Center.

There is supposed to be reform coming but the deadline has passed…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is set to release new federal regulations that would legally prevent transgender women from being housed with men in immigration detention facilities as part of an effort to reduce the incidence of rape and other forms of sex assault.

The deadline for this addition to the Prison Rape Elimination Act was the end of September but that may have been overshot.

The programs goals are to…

This Risk Classification Assessment program, which is expected to roll out fully nationwide this year, is supposed to be incorporated automatically into the book-in process at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Identifying as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) is one the determinate factors that would lead a person to be flagged as vulnerable, said Tobin.

But it is not yet clear if every LGBTQ person flagged as vulnerable will automatically be sent to a separate living arrangement outside of a detention facility.

The program requires ICE guards to screen incoming detainees to "determine whether there is any special vulnerability that may impact custody," according to ICE.

I hope the program does go into effect soon from the sake of the detainees who are running away to escape violence only to find it here.